{"id":15319,"date":"2016-02-04T09:54:57","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T14:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/planesafe.org\/?p=15319"},"modified":"2016-02-04T09:55:23","modified_gmt":"2016-02-04T14:55:23","slug":"15319","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/planesafe.org\/?p=15319","title":{"rendered":"Flight 3407 Families Receive Strong Support on 7th Anniversary Trip to DC"},"content":{"rendered":"

Flight 3407 Families Receive Strong Support on 7th Anniversary Trip to DC<\/strong><\/p>\n

Western NY Delegation Sends Strong\u00a0Warning to Regional Airlines About Challenging Safety Initiatives<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Buffalo, New York – February 3rd, 2016<\/p>\n

With\u00a0‘Miracle on the Hudson’ co-pilot Jeff Skiles and\u00a0the entire Western New York congressional delegation locked arm-in-arm alongside them, the ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407 made a strong stand for regional airline safety as they descended upon Washington in conjunction with the 7th anniversary of the needless tragedy.\u00a0 The group was also buoyed by the support it received as its members conducted nearly 50 meetings on Capitol Hill calling on Congress to resist efforts by the Regional Airline Association and its lobbyist to water down stronger regional airline safety measures brought about by the passage of Public Law 111-216, ‘The Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010.’<\/p>\n

“To hear one of the most veteran members of Congress in Congresswoman Slaughter, side-by-side with such a steadfast supporter in Congressman Higgins, call our advocacy effort one of the most remarkable she has seen in all of her years of experience means so much to us,” stated Karen Eckert of Williamsville, New York,\u00a0who lost her sister Beverly Eckert, a prominent 9\/11 widow and activist.\u00a0 “And then to have Congressmen Reed and Collins, who have been there for us every step of way, taking a stand for us as well truly speaks to the bipartisanship of our cause and our effort.”<\/p>\n

As the group made the rounds on Capitol Hill after the press conference, in preparation for the release of language for the FAA Reauthorization Bill by the House’s Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, it was\u00a0heartened by interaction between Congressman Collins and House Transportation Chairman Bill Shuster, which seemed to point towards Shuster’s support of a strong approach to regional airline safety standards advocated by the group in the Bill.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom day one, our position on the FAA Reauthorization Bill is that it should at minimum preserve, if not even strengthen, the stronger regional airline safety measures brought about by our tragedy and the unanimous passage of Public Law 111-216,”\u00a0stated John Kausner of Clarence Center, New York,\u00a0who lost his twenty four year old daughter Ellyce.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIn particular, we are adamant that Congress does not touch the more stringent qualification standards for regional airline first officers.\u00a0 Obviously you can never know for sure until the language is officially released, but we are encouraged that Chairmen Shuster and LoBiondo are going to be on our side on this one.\u00a0 And we are extremely indebted to Congressman Collins for being so adamant for us on this issue with the Chairman.”<\/p>\n

The group also highlighted the promise made by New York’s Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten\u00a0Gillibrand to block any legislation in the Senate that would water down or roll back any of the new safety regulations brought about by P.L. 111-216. \u201cObviously we can never forget back in 2010 the devastation we felt when a senator threatened to block the safety legislation we were\u00a0fighting so\u00a0passionately for on account of his pet corporation and its lobbyist,”\u00a0stated Susan Bourque of East Aurora, New York, another sister of Beverly Eckert.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cNow it is comforting to know that this powerful weapon is\u00a0ready and willing to be used on\u00a0behalf of a citizen advocacy group like ours.\u00a0 Once again, we are so fortunate to have two diligent and determined members in Senators Schumer and\u00a0Gillibrand fighting for us in the Senate.”<\/p>\n

Finally the group hearkened back to the presence of First Officer Skiles in Washington, and the continued support of him and Captain Sully Sullenberger on behalf of their cause.\u00a0 They also cited the dramatic improvement in regional airline safety in the wake of Flight 3407.\u00a0 In the eight years from 2001 to the crash in 2009, there were six fatal commercial airline crashes, all on regional carriers; in the nearly seven years since the crash, there have not been any. \u00a0“It continues to be convenient for our opposition to mis-characterize our position as being obsessed with having young pilots fly around in\u00a0circles towing banners,”\u00a0stated Scott Maurer of Palmetto, Florida,\u00a0who lost his thirty year old daughter Lorin.\u00a0\u00a0“We have always said that we do not consider ourselves as the experts, and certainly\u00a0were not the ones who came up with the concept for the legislation calling for these new qualification requirements that was unanimously\u00a0approved by Congress, nor the final regulation that was developed by the FAA.\u00a0 But absolutely no one can question the credentials of\u00a0Captain Sullenberger and First Officer Skiles in this regard; who personify the idea that ‘Experience Matters,’ and have consistently defended the value of these higher experience requirements.\u00a0 Most importantly, no one can argue with the results: since this very senseless crash, the comprehensive actions taken by Congress and the FAA, along with the increased scrutiny of regional airlines through the efforts of our group and numerous others, have resulted in an\u00a0unprecedented era of regional airline safety.\u00a0 It would be completely irresponsible to send the regionals any signal that a return to their previous short-cutting ways is acceptable.”<\/p>\n

Contact:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Takla Boujaoude\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 takla.3407@gmail.com\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 716-907-2425<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Flight 3407 Families Receive Strong Support on 7th Anniversary Trip to DC Western NY Delegation Sends Strong\u00a0Warning to Regional Airlines About Challenging Safety Initiatives Buffalo, New York – February 3rd, 2016 With\u00a0‘Miracle on the Hudson’ co-pilot Jeff Skiles and\u00a0the entire Western New York congressional delegation locked arm-in-arm alongside them, the ‘Families of Continental Flight 3407 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[809,3317,3325,3126,3407,2731],"class_list":["post-15319","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog","tag-regional-airlines","tag-co3407","tag-faa","tag-pilots","tag-reauthorization","tag-safety-culture"],"yoast_head":"\nFlight 3407 Families Receive Strong Support on 7th Anniversary Trip to DC - Planesafe.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/live-planesafe.pantheon.io\/?p=15319\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Flight 3407 Families Receive Strong Support on 7th Anniversary Trip to DC - 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