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H.R. 3371, The Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act of 2009 (12 comments ↓ | 6 wiki edits)
H.R. 3371 would amend title 49, United States Code, to improve airline safety and pilot training.
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Visitor Comments 
Randall Brooks
July 31, 2009, 12:00pm (report abuse)This bill proposes to institute Air Carrier training in upset recovery. This would be a substantial improvement to training standards addressing one of the greatest (and previously unaddressed)threats to air safety.
John Doe part two
August 5, 2009, 9:00am (report abuse)Today, the current aviation standard for safety is now the minimum requirements of the FARs. It used to be when I was first hired at my airline that safety was a no compromise issue. Money was allocated to maintain a HIGH level of safety at least at the major airlines. Today, all airlines perform the minimum required by the FAA to maintain their aircraft and train their crews in an effort to stay in business or “remain competitive”. The major airlines have been lucky in that the age demographics of their pilots have given them seasoned aviators at a time they have been reducing their maintenance budgets.
continued in part three
John Doe part three
August 5, 2009, 9:03am (report abuse)Personally, I have experienced more aircraft mechanical problems in the last 5 years than I had experienced in my first 28 years in aviation combined. I have altered the way I fly and plan, because I no longer assume proper maintenance has been accomplished on the aircraft I fly. Recently, the FAA has started to perform their air carrier oversight in a more responsible manner so I have seen an improvement in some maintenance practices at my airline.
As far as crewmembers are concerned I am very pleased to see laws are finally being enacted to require airlines to hire more experienced entry level pilots, 1500 hours and an ATP versus 250 hours and a commercial license is a significant increase in operational experience. Additionally the pilot mentoring program is an excellent way to help a new crewmember develop the professionalism, operational insight and judgment required to be a contributing crewmember versus just a radio operator or a checklist reader.
continued in part fout
John Doe part four
August 5, 2009, 9:05am (report abuse)Finally I am pleased that fatigue is finally being addressed. The airlines response to fatigue is to schedule their pilots to FARs and lay the responsibility on their pilots to call in fatigued if they feel tired. The problem is the person who is fatigued probably is not aware how fatigued they are until the fatigue level is extremely high. There is a lot of scientific data out about fatigue, its effects and how to schedule people who work shifts so they are not fatigued. The airlines do not schedule pilots based on scientific principles, they schedule pilots based on FARs (the bottom line). So the FARs must change to get pilot flight schedules that prevent fatigue from building. It is unfortunate that fifty people had to die to make this come about.
continued in part five
John Doe part five
August 5, 2009, 9:06am (report abuse)So I would like to thank the members of Congress, their staffs and all the other people responsible for getting this bill out of committee. It is a significant step forward. It will result in a significant improvement in safety and I hope it will pass the House and Senate in the near future.
(John Doe was given as my name to protect me from any retribution from my airline for posting my honest comments)
John Doe part one
August 5, 2009, 9:09am (report abuse)I am an airline pilot with 33 years of aviation experience and 10,000 hours as a captain at a major US airline. I have been deeply concerned about the falling standards in aviation safety due to the air carriers race to the bottom also known as operating at the “lowest cost” possible. The airlines goal to spend the least money on maintenance, crew training and to get the cheapest “pilot” they can find has caused me to not fly on any regional airline as a passenger.
It is true you can train a person in a relatively short (couple of years) to sit in the right seat of a small jet simulator and “pass” a check ride. The problem is that simulators are not the real world of aviation. They are a very simple training tool for procedures. That is it. They do not replicate the complexity of real world operations of jet aircraft. To see what NASA Ames Research has to say about this read “The Multitasking Myth”.
Max Trescott
October 15, 2009, 2:48am (report abuse)My informal survey of pilots suggests that most feel that the bill is the right thing to do, though it will increase the cost to become an airline pilot and may hurt fulltime flight instructors who will face increase competition from future airline pilots building time by teaching. You can see all of their comments on my blog posting at http://bit.ly/1GfQ9q
Cody Sutherland, Journeys Aviation
October 18, 2009, 3:32pm (report abuse)While this ATP requirement appears to be the right approach for part 121 carriers, it is bound to contribute to a coming pilot shortage and to create quite a financial hurdle for new pilot qualification. To reach the 250 hour CPL experience level, pilots typically spend around $50,000 for training costs. Now that career training loans are no longer available for this training, how will would-be pilots ever affort 1500 hours of experience? Perhaps better training programs such as those set out by ICAO for the multi-crew pilot license (or MPL) will help bridge the gap.
Regionaldispatcher
October 18, 2009, 9:50pm (report abuse)What was forgotten were the dispatchers we work for low wages most also commute and we share operational control of the flight with the Pilot in command. Most regional dispatchers are brand new and most regionals have a very high turnover rate. In addition the regionals are wanting on time performance so they want flight releases done 2 to 3 hours in advance, which is not always the safest thing but the company will hold the late release against the dispatcher and threaten their jobs which we start at about 15.00 per hour. Most regional management only care about the schedule then savings then safety inspite of what they say or the corporate sayings.
The House should look at Regional Dispatchers also to see the whole picture of regional flying...
Jack Kenton
October 19, 2009, 7:24pm (report abuse)Building flight time -- how will the new pilots do it? Ab initio programs exist in many countries. That was, essentially, what I had when I started in the right seat of a Navy EC-121 Constellation.
Pilot
October 30, 2009, 12:25am (report abuse)It is hard to argue that increased regulations to make us a safer are a bad thing. However all you ever hear about are the faults in aviation safety, not all the good things. Safety is on the minds of every pilot and airline and a lot is done to maintain our standards, but like any industry it has its faults. Those of you who have no qualms about it, think of the future of aviation in the next few years. I'm leaving a 4 year university with my flight ratings through ASEL/MEL commercial, instrument and CFI-I. I'll be 60,000 in loan debt which is about average in which a lot of students are facing. The job market is already looking grim, and we look forward to immediate jobs that pay less then a first year teacher. To tell me I need to more then triple my flight experience and then add an ATP at my own cost? I love to fly but future pilots are facing higher debts then ever before and less of a certain future. We should be looking at how to safely increase the job market, not restrict it.
Ian Carisi
October 30, 2009, 3:07pm (report abuse)I think there is a serious flaw in the house version of the The Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act of 2009. I think the senate version is much better in the fact that it does not vary from the 1,500 mark. I do however think that this still is not enough. I feel that no pilot should be allowed to operate under FAR 121 without an ATP certificate.
And in terms of "pilot" who fears his debt, teach for a while. You will learn a lot.
Ian Carisi FAA Gold Seal Certified Flight Instructor/ FAA Safety Team Representative/ Airline Transport Pilot.
Questions/ Comments: ianjohn05@yahoo.com
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