Description: Sections 208 & 209 of PL111-216 gives the FAA a timeline to complete its current rulemaking on crewmember training, and forms a multipdisciplinary panel to examine a number of issues related to various aspects of pilot training – ground school, recurrent training, assessing proficiency, etc. – and then report Read more…
Description: Section 215 – Requires FAA Administrator to issue a rule to require all part 121 carriers to implement Safety Management Systems. Status: The FAA issued a final rule on Safety Management Systems on January 8, 2015. The complete text of the final rule can be found here.
Description: Section 212 of PL111-216 requires the FAA Administrator to conduct rulemaking establishing new flight and duty time regulations, requires all part 121 carriers to submit a Fatigue Risk Management Plan (FRM) for Administrator approval, and directs a study on commuting, with findings to be incorporated into fatigue rulemaking. Status: Read more…
Buffalo, New York- December 21, 2010 – With Department of Transportation guidance on new regional airline disclosure requirements expected in January, The ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407’ continued their push for expedient action by the government agency and all Internet sites, and expressed their disappointment with recent quotes by representatives of online ticketing agency (OTA) giants Expedia and Travelocity suggesting that the DOT was at fault for dragging its feet on issuing new guidelines. (more…)
Buffalo, New York- December 14, 2010 – The ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407’ are conducting a nationwide outreach to all air travelers, as a result of a Buffalo News survey (http://www.buffalonews.com/city/article282269.ece) and their own research indicating that US Airways and seven of the top ten Internet airline ticketing sites are not immediately disclosing regional air carriers operating flights for mainline carriers under codeshare agreements. With these websites seemingly ignoring a provision in the new aviation safety legislation that became law in August which requires full transparency when in comes to identifying regional carriers, the group is in the midst of an awareness campaign entitled ‘Who’s REALLY Flying Your Plane?”, and is asking concerned passengers to voice their concerns with the Department of Transportation’s Aviation Consumer Protection Division. (more…)
Buffalo, New York- December 2, 2010 – Turning their attention from getting major aviation safety legislation passed to getting it implemented, the ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407’ announced the kickoff of a major public outreach effort aimed at raising the flying public’s awareness of regional airlines operating flights under the auspices of the mainline carriers. The campaign also targets airlines, ticketing agents, and websites that are not complying with a new federal regulation requiring transparency in the advertisement of regional carriers. (more…)
Buffalo, New York- December 1, 2010 – The ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407’ continued their push for a true ‘One Level of Safety’ between mainline and regional airlines by submitting their formal comments to the FAA’s recently proposed new rulemaking on pilot flight and duty times. They called for more aggressive action on the serious issue of fatigue caused by pilot commuting practices, and challenged the FAA and Administrator Randy Babbitt to issue a final fatigue rule by the August 1, 2011 deadline imposed by Congress. (The comment submitted by the group to the FAA is included below.) (more…)
Buffalo, New York- October 28, 2010 – In the wake of an National Transportation Safety Board symposium on airline code-share agreements and their impact on safety, the ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407’ issued the following statement: (more…)
Buffalo, New York- October 20, 2010 – The ‘Families of Continental/United/Pinnacle/Colgan Flight 3407’ praised members of both houses of Congress who sent strong messages last week to FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt not to give in to industry pressure to accept a rulemaking advisory committee proposal that would effectively cripple a critical aviation safety measure that was recently signed into law. The committee, dominated by the airlines and special interests, recommended that the FAA work around a Congressional provision intended to require all first officers on commercial airlines to possess the same Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) license as that required of captains, by allowing classroom training to substitute for 1,000 of the 1,500 flight hours required for the license. (more…)
Buffalo, New York- October 11, 2010 – In response to a Wall Street Journal article (‘FAA Mulls Proposals for Pilot Qualifications’) that suggested it was likely that the Federal Aviation Administration would ’embrace’ a proposal from an Aviation Rulemaking Committee that would drastically undercut recently-passed bipartisan aviation safety legislation, the ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407’ lashed out at the Committee’s majority report and the Regional Airline Association (RAA) who spearheaded its efforts. In the proposal, the RAA put forth the recommendation that the FAA water down Congress’s 1,500 flight hour minimum for newly-hired pilots to a much more industry-friendly 500 hour threshold, which would effectively short-circuit Congress’s attempt to significantly reduce the experience gap in the cockpits of regional carriers versus the major carriers. (more…)