Aviation Safety Legislation Passes House with Rep. Chandler Support

Legislation addresses recent incidents, including Comair 5191

WASHINGTON (October 14, 2009)—This afternoon, Rep. Ben Chandler supported H.R. 3371, legislation to make air travel safer by strengthening requirements for pilot hiring, training, and pilot fatigue.

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“All passengers deserve to be safe in the air—it doesn’t matter which airline you fly,” Chandler said. “It concerns me that the last six fatal commercial airline crashes in the United States were all on regional carriers, and that includes Comair Flight 5191 in Lexington.”

H.R. 3371, the Airline Safety & Pilot Training Improvement Act, would update the hiring process for pilots, increasing the amount of experience a pilot must obtain before flying for a commercial airline. Currently, to obtain a commercial pilot license, the minimum flight hour requirement is 250 hours. This bill will increase that minimum requirement from 250 to 1,500 hours, ensuring pilots have plenty of experience in the cockpit before piloting a commercial aircraft. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will also be required to update their pilot fatigue regulations based on current scientific research.

In May of this year, the House passed Congressman Chandler’s related legislation to order new studies on runway incursions and airport safety. Chandler filed the bill to improve air safety in the wake of the 2006 Comair crash at Blue Grass Airport, and it passed as part of the FAA reauthorization bill.

“What we need is a meaningful reexamination of our air travel policies and concrete action to make air travel safer,” Chandler said. “There was a great tragedy in Lexington in 2006, and we have to do whatever we can to prevent incidents like this from ever happening again.”

Source: Rep. Ben Chandler