suupah
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 31, 2004
- Posts
- 1,779
13 May 2009
Mr. Casey,
Like most of America, I was disturbed to read the recent reports from the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation into the crash of Continental Airlines Flight 3407, operated by Colgan Air. As a pilot and frequent flier, I find it irresponsible – bordering on negligent – that Colgan Air management found it acceptable to put an air crew in charge of passengers' lives with insufficient training to control the aircraft to which they were assigned under the conditions that existed at the time.
As a licensed commercial air carrier, your company has a statutory and moral responsibility to ensure the safety of your passengers. However, based on NTSB reports and public statements by Colgan officials, I am left to assume that your company is not conducting sufficient efforts to investigate the backgrounds and qualifications of your pilots; is requiring only the minimum training and safety requirements spelled out by the Federal Aviation Administration; and is making little to no effort to ensure that pilots have sufficient rest prior to taking control of your aircraft. While your company's guidelines may meet the letter of the law, they clearly do not satisfy the spirit of these regulations or the reasonable expectations your customers have that Colgan Air will make every effort to ensure their safety.
As a pilot with 13 years experience, I found the articles damning in reporting that the pilot was untrained on the aircraft's stall warning recovery procedures for the onboard systems, and that the pilot and co pilot likely did not have sufficient rest before being given control of the plane by your company. Even worse was the anemic defense issued by Colgan Air that, "[a] stick pusher demonstration in an aircraft simulator is not required by the FAA and was not part of the training syllabus." Even the most basic pilot training – from Cessnas to bombers – includes basic training to correct a stall. It is becoming clear that the 50 deaths that occurred that night in February were not only tragic, but likely avoidable.
Despite your company's obvious efforts to deflect all blame to the air crew, the evidence outlined in the press reports thus far indicates that Colgan Air also deserves a significant amount of scrutiny regarding company policies and practices. Therefore, I request your immediate response to the following questions:
1) Do Colgan Air's minimum flight requirements for air crew exceed FAA guidelines, or simply meet them? Do you still find those regulations to be sufficient?
2) What are Colgan Air's minimum training and qualifying requirements for pilots on their respective aircraft?
3) Given the passive attitude expressed by your company in investigating the background of new pilots, is Colgan Air considering implementing more stringent background checks in the future?
4) In light of the information revealed by the NTSB thus far, is Colgan Air planning to review and update its minimum flight requirements for pilots?
I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
John Boccieri
Member of Congress
Cc: John Erwin "Jeb" Barrett, Director, Flight Standards
Darrell Mitchell, Director, Crew Training
Daryl LaClair, Director, Safety
Mr. Casey,
Like most of America, I was disturbed to read the recent reports from the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation into the crash of Continental Airlines Flight 3407, operated by Colgan Air. As a pilot and frequent flier, I find it irresponsible – bordering on negligent – that Colgan Air management found it acceptable to put an air crew in charge of passengers' lives with insufficient training to control the aircraft to which they were assigned under the conditions that existed at the time.
As a licensed commercial air carrier, your company has a statutory and moral responsibility to ensure the safety of your passengers. However, based on NTSB reports and public statements by Colgan officials, I am left to assume that your company is not conducting sufficient efforts to investigate the backgrounds and qualifications of your pilots; is requiring only the minimum training and safety requirements spelled out by the Federal Aviation Administration; and is making little to no effort to ensure that pilots have sufficient rest prior to taking control of your aircraft. While your company's guidelines may meet the letter of the law, they clearly do not satisfy the spirit of these regulations or the reasonable expectations your customers have that Colgan Air will make every effort to ensure their safety.
As a pilot with 13 years experience, I found the articles damning in reporting that the pilot was untrained on the aircraft's stall warning recovery procedures for the onboard systems, and that the pilot and co pilot likely did not have sufficient rest before being given control of the plane by your company. Even worse was the anemic defense issued by Colgan Air that, "[a] stick pusher demonstration in an aircraft simulator is not required by the FAA and was not part of the training syllabus." Even the most basic pilot training – from Cessnas to bombers – includes basic training to correct a stall. It is becoming clear that the 50 deaths that occurred that night in February were not only tragic, but likely avoidable.
Despite your company's obvious efforts to deflect all blame to the air crew, the evidence outlined in the press reports thus far indicates that Colgan Air also deserves a significant amount of scrutiny regarding company policies and practices. Therefore, I request your immediate response to the following questions:
1) Do Colgan Air's minimum flight requirements for air crew exceed FAA guidelines, or simply meet them? Do you still find those regulations to be sufficient?
2) What are Colgan Air's minimum training and qualifying requirements for pilots on their respective aircraft?
3) Given the passive attitude expressed by your company in investigating the background of new pilots, is Colgan Air considering implementing more stringent background checks in the future?
4) In light of the information revealed by the NTSB thus far, is Colgan Air planning to review and update its minimum flight requirements for pilots?
I look forward to your response.
Sincerely,
John Boccieri
Member of Congress
Cc: John Erwin "Jeb" Barrett, Director, Flight Standards
Darrell Mitchell, Director, Crew Training
Daryl LaClair, Director, Safety