It appears something good will come out of the deadly airplane crash in Buffalo, NY. The Prez says he will sign it.

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/politics/Landmark-moment-for-US-airline-safety


Posted by: Eli George

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - It's a landmark moment for the families touched by Continental Flight 3407. On Friday, the U.S. Senate passed a bill that will require commercial airline pilots to spend more time training.

These safety measures apply to all airlines, and are the first comprehensive attempt in decades to revise rules governing pilots. The impetus for the legislation was the 2009 crash of an airliner in western New York. All 49 people on board, and one man in a house, were killed.

Thursday night it was the House, and Friday morning the Senate passed a far-reaching aviation bill.

Sen. Charles Schumer said, "At long last we are over the goal line. All the ups and downs . The twists and turns, and it's all overcome."

The bill raises minimum experience and training requirements for new airline pilots, in response to the February 2009 deadly crash of Continental connection Flight 3407 in Clarence Center.

>>>Hear from 3407 families about the passage of this bill here

Rep. Louise Slaughter said, "No airline should have ever sent into Buffalo, New York in February, two pilots that didn't have the foggiest idea how to fly through ice."

The families of 3407 have spent 17 months lobbying Congress for the safety measures.

Rep. Chris Lee said, "We are finally at a point where 1.8 million Americans each and every day aboard a craft, more than 400,000 of which are on regional carriers, will be assured one level of aviation safety."

Earlier Friday the White House released a statement saying the President told the family members two months ago that he would take sensible steps to pursue important safety reforms, and he is pleased Congress has acted to ensure that we will use the best available evidence to make our aviation system as safe as possible for the traveling public.

Copyright WIVB.com

Ed W.

"IN GOD WE still TRUST - ALL OTHERS, WE used to MONITOR"

They fought so cowards can whine.

Yes, it is. And I wonder if this will end the careers of many civilian airline pilot wannabes. How do pilots get sufficient experience unless they were in the military or were born with the proverbial silver spoon?

Don't get me wrong. Most of this bill is long overdue. Unfortunately, a captain made it to the left seat and committed a sin that private pilots learn to avoid in the first few hours of flight lessons. There were ample warning signs the Colgan captain should never have been allowed to fly. This bill might help prevent this from happening again.

Another captain comes to mind...the one flying Palm 90 (Air Florida) out of Washington National (Reagan) that crashed in the Potomac. That's one example where the captain really did not know his airplane. If he had, he would have realized that the engines were not spinning at typical speed and he would have aborted the takeoff. He would have listened to his first officer who tried to warn that something was "not right".

With the major airlines downsizing and reducing the number of flights, there should be a lot of experienced airline pilots looking for jobs.

Shelly

thanks Ed,
I have felt terrible about that disaster right from the first news of it when it was obvious that there was not a crash; there was an airplane that fell belly first right out of the sky.

No doubt the Captain had enough training to keep the aircraft flying. He was simply not in the right frame of mind. Neither on of them were.

The President has signed it into law. Now to see if the FAA really enforces it in a timely manner.

http://www.wivb.com/dpp/news/local/president-signs-new-law-for-faa-safety

* Mark Parrotte
* Posted by: Kellie Mazur

WASHINGTON, D.C - Sweeping safety legislation, created in honor of the victims of Flight 3407, has become law.

The picture shows President Obama signing the airline safety and FAA extension act of 2010 on Sunday.

The bill orders the FAA to implement new safety standards, including increased training for pilots.

Congress passed the bill on Friday.

The families of Flight 3407 have been fighting for the bill since last year's tragedy.

Pilot error was ruled as the cause of the crash in Clarence Center.

Copyright WIVB.com

Ed W.

"IN GOD WE still TRUST - ALL OTHERS, WE used to MONITOR"

They fought so cowards can whine.

Published : Monday, 02 Aug 2010, 10:56 AM EDT

* Luke Smith
* Posted by: Kellie Mazur

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) - Senator Charles Schumer along with Congressmen Brian Higgins and Chris Lee will meet with Flight 3407 families.

These lawmakers are vowing to keep a close eye on the FAA, to ensure it follows through on enforcing and implementing the new law.


Copyright WIVB.com

Ed W.

"IN GOD WE still TRUST - ALL OTHERS, WE used to MONITOR"

They fought so cowards can whine.

Rep. Slaughter doesn't get it. Icing was not the issue.

The real problem was allowing the aircraft to get slower than normal followed by an inappropriate response by the captain to a stall warning. His actions were more like the response to a wind shear alert instead of a stall. When the aircraft began to sink to the ground belly-first like a leaf, he should have relaxed back pressure on the elevator and simultaneously applied full power. Apparently, he held it in the stall all the way to the ground.

Damn it...it's as if he committed suicide or seized.

When I was learning to fly years ago, my instructor demonstrated how to stall and unstall many times in a single exercise. It was simply a matter of releasing the back-pressure on the yoke at the first signs of an impending stall.

On occasion, we held the aircraft in the stall and used the rudder for directional control (what little there is at slow speed). We'd drop a thousand feet and recover. This exercise extension was great for imagining the consequences of not taking quick and appropriate action at low altitudes.