Will Work Hand-in-Hand with Enhanced First Officer Standards; Pilot Database is Final Milestone Remaining from Safety Law
Buffalo, New York – February 25, 2020 – The ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407’ recognized the Federal Aviation Administration’s release of a final rule on ‘Pilot Professional Development’. The rule was mandated by the ‘Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010,’ and marks another step towards full implementation of the law.
“This is another key step towards achieving a true ‘One Level of Safety’ between our nation’s regional and mainline carriers. It will build on the strong safety advances that have already been made as a result of the Airline Safety Act; in particular, the stronger entry-level training and experience requirements for regional airline first officers. The human factors element is the biggest challenge to aviation safety today, and this is another component to addressing the deficiencies that led to the very preventable tragedy of Flight 3407. It is our fervent hope that all commercial airlines waste no time in implementing these programs.”
“We are grateful to everyone at FAA, DOT, and Congress who have made this rule possible. The results of this landmark safety law speak for themselves – over 11 years without a fatal commercial airline crash on a U.S. commercial carrier.”
“Moving forward, we remain very focused on achieving the full implementation of the Pilot Record Database, the law’s final remaining mandate. This is truly one of the pillars of the legislation, and we are counting on Secretary Chao and Administrator Dickson to see it through to completion. Eleven years is far too long for something that the C.E.O. testified could have prevented Flight 3407’s captain from being hired in the first place, by making his prior training record fully transparent to the airline in the hiring process.”