US Pilot Requirements Tighten
Due to a crash last year that killed 50 people, Congress has passed legislation that requires regional airline pilots to have more training and experience before flying passengers. The National Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation into the Continental Connection flight, finding that the pilots’ actions and deficiencies in their hiring and training by a regional airline were at fault. Plus, out of the last 6 fatal regional airline crashes in the US, 4 were due to pilot performance.
The new legislation, which only needs to be signed by President Obama to become official, requires that all airline pilots have a log of at least 1,500 hours in-flight before they can fly passengers. This is much more than the current 250 hour minimum for new co-pilots. The bill also increases the hours of training, aims to decrease pilot fatigue by directing that pilot duty hours be updated by the Federal Aviation Administration and requires that a national database of pilot records is created to help carriers conduct background checks.
Furthermore, passengers have to be notified which airline is operating each segment of their itinerary when they book tickets online. Major carriers are outsourcing short-haul flight to regional airlines more and more, and this now counts for over half of all domestic services.
Commuter and regional airlines have voiced concerns that the government is getting too involved in training issues. However, there has been much applause from the families of the victims involved in the commuter crash last year. They traveled to Washington many times over the year, pushing for reform so that more planes don’t crash because the pilots weren’t trained enough.
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