Flight 3407 families enlist lawmakers to pressure Obama on pilot-fatigue rules

THE HILL
BY KEITH LANG

More than 100 lawmakers have signed a letter asking President Obama to intervene in a fight over schedule requirements for pilots on behalf of stricter limits that have languished in the regulatory process.

Congress gave the FAA, which has been at the center of recent budget fights in Washington, the authority to make changes to the training and scheduling requirements for regional pilots when it passed the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act in 2010.

But the changes are currently in the administrative rule-making process, and a recent deadline for implementation was missed.

A group formed to lobby for the families of victims of a 2009 plane crash near Buffalo, N.Y, is blaming airline companies for the holdup. They are calling for President Obama to step in on their behalf.

“This sends a strong message to the President that the entire nation is counting on him to put safety ahead of corporate greed,” South Carolina resident Scott Maurer, who's thirty year old daughter Lorin was killed in the Continental Airlines flight 3407 crash said in a statement.  “Unfortunately, Flight 3407 is a tragic reminder of what happens when that is not done.

"The airlines are pulling out all the stops, from hiring the President's staff to waging public relations warfare, in an attempt to blur the real issues here," Lorin continued. "But if the flying public is going to receive a true 'One Level of Safety', particularly in regards to our nation's regional airlines, this twenty-year battle with the industry over these critical new scheduling guidelines must be won once and for all.”

Continental Connection flight 3407, which was operated for the airline by regional carrier Colgan Air, crashed as it approached the airport in Buffalo in February 2009. Pilot fatigue was cited as one of the causes of the accident.

The 3407 families group said their letter about enacting tougher rules on pilot scheduling was signed by lawmakers from 33 states, including Reps. Jean Schmidt (R-Ohio), Steve Stivers (R-Ohio), Louise Slaughter (D-N.Y.), Brian Higgins (D-N.Y.), Tom Reed (R-N.Y.), and Kathy Hochul (D-N.Y.).

The group said high-ranking Democrats on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Rep. Nick Rahall (D-W.Va.) and Jerry Costello (D-Ill.) had also signed the letter.

Costello said Friday that he was retiring at the end of his term in 2012.