Buffalo, New York- January 29, 2010 – The National Transportation Safety Board will hold a public hearing on the final accident report for Continental Flight 3407, operated by Colgan Air, on Tuesday, February 2nd, at 9:30 a.m. in the NTSB Conference Center in Washington. Over sixty members of the ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407’ are expected to be in attendance, and as the final chapter in the investigative phase is completed and the one year anniversary approaches, the group is calling for quicker action from two key government entities to prevent a repeat of this tragedy.
“In the memory of Elly and the other victims, we have been resolved for the past year to do all that we can to prevent this from happening to another group of families,” stated John Kausner of Clarence Center, New York, who lost his 24 year old daughter Ellyce. “As the one year mark approaches, the pain of our loss is only magnified by our government’s foot dragging. We ask that Senator Baucus and his committee restore our faith that our government can do two things at one time, and quickly act on the FAA Reauthorization Bill and its critical safety provisions, that have been sitting awaiting their action since July.”
The NTSB hearing will be followed up by a Congressional hearing on Thursday that will focus on the progress of the FAA’s Call to Action Initiative in the wake of the accident, and will feature FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt as the key witness. That hearing will be held by the House of Representatives’ Aviation Subcommittee, and will be 10 a.m. in Room 2167 of the Rayburn House Office Building.
“We appreciate Administrator Babbitt’s efforts in spotlighting the issues raised by our accident, and he certainly has the FAA involved in two critical undertakings with the rulemakings on flight and duty times and pilot training,” stated Scott Maurer, who lost his thirty year old daughter Lorin. “However, time is our enemy, and with the parade of missed deadlines that we have seen since September, we are concerned that this is playing right into the industry’s hands. We ask the Administrator to work with the agencies involved to accelerate their review process. We also ask him to be more responsive than his predecessors to these crucial NTSB safety recommendations. And finally, we urge him to be supportive of Congress expediting much-needed reforms in the areas of pilot qualifications, regional airline oversight, and pilot training records access, in the way of new legislation.”
Family members in attendance at Tuesday’s NTSB hearing will be making a group statement at approximately 11:45 a.m. outside the NTSB’s conference room; further details will be forthcoming.