Focus on FAA’s Recently-Released 200 Page Annual Report to Congress on NTSB Recommendation Status
Buffalo, New York- December 20, 2011 – Approaching the third Christmas after the crash of Continental Flight 3407, the family of thirty-seven year old Kristin Safran, a bottled water industry executive, wife, and mother of two, urged the FAA under the direction of acting FAA Administrator Michael Huerta, to fully implement all safety recommendations put forth by the National Transportation Safety Board in its final report on the crash. The group’s push comes on the heels of the FAA’s report to Congress on the status of all open safety recommendations, including the twenty-eight recommendations associated with Flight 3407.
“Russ, Kristin, Alexandra, and Sydney would head to Cleveland on Christmas Eve in a car filled with luggage, presents, the dog, and Kristin’s special home-made Chex mix. Kristin’s fondest childhood memory was spending Christmas at her grandparents’ home with all of our family, and she wanted her daughters to have the same wonderful experience. The car still heads to Cleveland each Christmas, but it is missing the Chex mix and the one very special person who wanted every Christmas to be a wonderful memory for her daughters,” shared her mother Cindi Saltzgiver of Branson, Missouri. “On this day when there should only be gladness, we will forever have moments of sadness. And all that is left for us to do is to ask that everything possible is done to make sure that the mistakes that led to Flight 3407 are never allowed to repeat themselves. That is why it is so critical that these NTSB safety recommendations, which are solely focused on addressing the deficiencies exposed in this investigation, are taken seriously and acted on as quickly as possible.”
The NTSB’s final report on Flight 3407 included recommendations addressing a number of areas, including training, pilot fatigue, best practice safety management programs, pilot records, and even the installation of low-airspeed alerters in cockpits to give pilots an additional warning when the plane is approaching a stall condition. The family group’s focus on the adoption of these recommendations is part of their ‘Twelve Days of Christmas’ campaign, aimed at highlighting key elements of the family group’s push for ‘One Level of Safety’ for all passengers traveling on the nation’s regional airlines, which account for over half of all flights flown in the United States.