Flight 3407 Families Challenge Secretary Foxx to Step Up on Looming Safety Rules

Buffalo, New York- June 27, 2013

Within minutes of Anthony Foxx being confirmed by the Senate to be the next Transportation Secretary, the ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407’ called on Ray LaHood’s successor to follow through on an invitation to sit down with the group, as well as to deliver on two critical new safety regulations.

“First and foremost, we would like to congratulate Secretary Foxx on his confirmation,” stated Scott Maurer of Moore, South Carolina, who lost his thirty year-old daughter Lorin in the crash.  “We enjoyed the opportunity to attend his confirmation hearing with the Commerce Committee, and were encouraged by his declaration that safety would be his absolute top priority.  Beyond that, we deeply appreciated his pledge to sit down with us should he be confirmed, and now we look forward to taking him up on his offer, hopefully sooner rather than later.  The administration faces some major challenges in the upcoming months in terms of upgrading the regional airlines’ commitment to safety, and hopefully Secretary Foxx and FAA Administrator Huerta will step up to the plate and deliver.”

 

Secretary Foxx assumes his office just as two critical and already past-due aviation safety initiatives approach key deadlines.  A new rule that will elevate the entry-level qualifications required of new-hire regional airline first officers must be completed by August 1, and another rule that will upgrade airlines’ crewmember training programs faces an October due date.  In both cases, the Administration has faced significant pressure from the nation’s major and regional airlines to water down and/or stall the safety measures.

“As we welcome Secretary Foxx to this post, we also offer our appreciation to Ray LaHood for all that he has done on the behalf of the flying public to advance the cause of a true ‘One Level of Safety’ between our nation’s regional and mainline carriers,” stated Susan Bourque of East Aurora, New York, who lost her sister and prominent 9/11 widow and activist Beverly Eckert.  “However, much work remains to be done, and Secretary Foxx faces these two major challenges right off the bat.  As always, you have the industry and their significant lobbying resources on one side, and the little people like us on the other side.  Our efforts are too late to save Beverly and the others who needlessly lost their lives, but hopefully we can make a difference for all future air travelers.  We are counting on Secretary Foxx and Administrator Huerta to come through here in the next four months.”

The ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407’ group was immediately organized after the crash as a support network and an activist group to work on aviation safety reform.  Visit the group’s website or follow them on twitter @3407Families learn more about their efforts.

Contact:      Takla Boujaoude                    takla.3407@gmail.com                     716-907-2425

Tags: Blog by Jillian Gustafson
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Flight 3407 Families: One Month from Critical FAA Safety Deadline, Call Out Airlines’ Pressure on White House

Buffalo, New York- July 1, 2013

With a key deadline in the landmark Airline Safety Act of 2010 looming just one month away, the ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407’ challenged the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Department of Transportation (DOT), and White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to stand up to airline lobbying efforts aimed at watering down a critical entry-level pilot qualifications final rule. “It is coming down to crunch time, and no sooner had DOT sent the paperwork over to OMB than the lobbyists for A4A (Airlines for America) and RAA (Regional Airline Association) were scurrying over there to make sure they were the first to sit down with OMB,” stated Scott Maurer of Moore, South Carolina, who lost his thirty year-old daughter Lorin in the crash.

“We went through this before with the flight and duty time rule, and in that case, the airlines were successful in getting FAA to water down the final rule from the initial proposal. We challenge Administrator Huerta and his colleagues at DOT and OMB to stand up to the airlines and make sure that this final rule accurately reflects Congress’s unanimous mandate that all entry-level regional airline first officers have a significantly stronger foundation prior to being hired, both in the quality of training and the amount of hands-on prior flight experience. The FAA’s proposal as written makes fair allowances for military pilots and those trained at 4-year accredited university aviation programs, and we are completely opposed to FAA lowering the bar any further in the final rule.”

In passing the ‘Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010’, Congress included multiple provisions intended to raise the safety standard for the nation’s regional airlines. Regional airlines now account for over 50 percent of our nation’s commercial flights on a daily basis, and the regionals have been responsible for every fatal crash since 2003. Key provisions of the Safety Act targeted regional airline deficiencies in the experience level of their new first officers, scheduling practices that contributed to pilot fatigue, and inadequacies in the initial and recurrent crewmember training provided by the regionals. Given FAA’s extensive track record of not meeting rulemaking deadlines, Congress included a default clause in the Safety Act that would require all new commercial first officers to have an Airline Transport Pilot license, the same rating required of captains, if FAA did not complete the rulemaking by August 1, 2013.

“We continue to remind everyone that raising the entry-level requirements for first officers was part of a larger plan by Congress to bring the regional airline’s commitment to, and investment in safety, on par with that of the major airlines – the true ‘One Level of Safety’ that my sister and everyone on that plane tragically did not receive,” stated Karen Eckert of Williamsville, New York, who lost her sister and prominent 9/11 widow and activist Beverly Eckert.  “The airlines and their lobbyists have aggressively attempted to message this proposal as being unnecessary and the equivalent of pilots towing banners on a beach to gain the prerequisite number of hours.  They conveniently overlook the two prongs of this initiative: combining a more robust pilot training certification program with additional hands-on flying experience that will give young pilots exposure to bad weather and other difficult operating conditions that they do not receive in flight school.  But the airlines’ true motivation lies in their desire to preserve the status quo of regional airlines paying their first officers food stamp-level wages like what the first officer on Flight 3407 received.  Hopefully FAA, DOT, and OMB are able to see right through that and come down on the side of safety and the flying public when they issue their final rule.  As always, we will be watching closely.”

The ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407’ group was immediately organized after the crash as a support network and an activist group to work on aviation safety reform.  Visit the group’s website or follow them on twitter @3407Families learn more about their efforts.

Contact:      Takla Boujaoude                    takla.3407@gmail.com                     716-907-2425

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Flight 3407 Families: Article Reiterates Regional Airlines’ “Race to the Bottom”, Need for FAA Safety Rules to Be Finalized

Buffalo, New York- June 3, 2013

The ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407’ reacted strongly to a Sunday article in the Buffalo News  where Dan Morgan, former Vice President of Safety and Regulatory Compliance for Colgan Air, acknowledged that a senior FAA official shared “very serious concerns about the safety culture at Colgan Air”, in a meeting with company officials just six months prior to the fatal crash of Flight 3407.

Family members also took offense with the revelation that Colgan was able to avoid FAA disciplinary action through the implementation of a safety Powerpoint presentation for its employees.   “It is sickening to hear once again, this time from an insider, the depths that the FAA allowed regional airlines to descend to,” declared John Kausner of Clarence Center, New York, who lost his twenty-four year-old daughter Elly in the crash.  “Obviously the convenient thing to do for Colgan and Pinnacle to do was to pin this on the pilot and first officer, but this account provides further evidence of an across-the-board, minor league operation at this airline, which resulted in numerous safety shortcuts and ultimately, the needless loss of so many lives.  Whether it be maintenance deficiencies, inexperienced pilots, or even the idea that a Colgan Vice President had to use a credit card to refuel a plane because the company hadn’t been paying its bills, this article dramatically highlights that our loved ones boarded a plane operated by an airline that was a disaster-waiting-to-happen.  And shame on the FAA, Continental, United, and everyone else who looked the other way and allowed this tragedy to occur.”

The family group used this article to call attention to two well-publicized rulemakings that have been stalled between FAA, DOT, and the White House Office of Management and Budget, which would significantly raise the safety bar for the nation’s regional airlines.  FAA Administrator Michael Huerta has pledged to have both rulemakings completed by their August and October deadlines.   “As we have throughout this whole process, we are going to continue to try and find a way to look forward and not back, as difficult as that continues to be,” stated Susan Bourque of East Aurora, New York, who lost her sister and prominent 9/11 widow and activist Beverly Eckert.  “With the impending rulemakings on pilot qualifications and crewmember training, FAA and DOT have an opportunity to significantly close the gap between regional airlines like Colgan and Pinnacle, and their mainline partners. This article should be another reminder for those working on these rulemakings, as well as everyone in the industry, of what can happen when economic concerns are allowed to trump safety.  We again call on Administrator Huerta to deliver on his promises.”

The ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407’ group was immediately organized after the crash as a support network and an activist group to work on aviation safety reform.  Visit the group’s website or follow them on twitter @3407Families learn more about their efforts.

Contact:      Takla Boujaoude                    takla.3407@gmail.com                     716-907-2425

 

Tags: Blog by Jillian Gustafson
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