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WASHINGTON— Rep. Tom Petri, along with the other members of the bipartisan leadership of the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and the Subcommittee on Aviation, on Wednesday introduced legislation to enhance airline safety by setting new training and service standards for commercial pilots.
Petri, the Ranking Republican on the Aviation Subcommittee, joined Committee Chairman James L. Oberstar (Minn.), Ranking Member for the full committee John A. Mica (Fla.) and Subcommittee Chairman Jerry F. Costello (Ill.) in introducing H.R. 3371, the Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act of 2009. The bill was developed after hearings held by the Subcommittee on pilot issues and their relationship to aviation incidents.
"It's important to emphasize the context in which this legislation is being brought forward by the Committee to the Congress," Petri said. "We've had six accidents from regional airlines the last few years. The airline industry has been under increasing economic pressure as an industry, losing money some years."
Meanwhile, Petri said, commercial aviation as a whole has had the best safety record in history. "We want to maintain that and put additional safeguards, where appropriate, in place to make sure that because of economic pressure, tremendous pressure on wages for pilots and stewardesses in regional airlines that has occurred because of market conditions and all the rest, that corners aren't cut that jeopardize the traveling public," he said.
“This legislation will go a long way to improve aviation safety by increasing pilot training requirements, addressing pilot fatigue, making pilot records easier to obtain, and strengthening FAA’s safety programs,” Oberstar said. “We must maintain constant vigilance over airline safety to ensure there is one level of safety across the industry.”
In brief, the bill:
· Requires FAA to ensure that pilots are trained on stall recovery, upset recovery, and that airlines provide remedial training.
· Requires airline pilots to hold an FAA Airline Transport Pilot license (1,500 minimum flight hours required).
· Establishes comprehensive pre-employment screening of prospective pilots including an assessment of a pilot’s skills, aptitudes, airmanship and suitability for functioning in the airline’s operational environment.
· Requires airlines to establish pilot mentoring programs, create Pilot Professional Development Committees, modify training to accommodate new-hire pilots with different levels and types of flight experience, and provide leadership and command training to pilots in command.
· Creates a Pilot Records Database to provide airlines with fast, electronic, secure access to a pilot’s comprehensive record. Information will include pilot’s licenses, aircraft ratings, check rides, Notices of Disapproval and other flight proficiency tests.
· Directs FAA to update and implement a new pilot flight and duty time rule and fatigue risk management plans to more adequately track scientific research in the field of fatigue. It also requires air carriers to create fatigue risk management systems approved by FAA.
In addition, the bill requires the Department of Transportation Inspector General to study and report to Congress on whether the number and experience level of safety inspectors assigned to regional airlines is commensurate with that of mainline airlines, mandates that the first page of an Internet website that sells airline tickets disclose the air carrier that operates each segment of the flight, directs a National Academy of Sciences study on pilot commuting and fatigue, and requires the Secretary of Transportation to provide an annual report to Congress on what the agency is doing to address each open National Transportation Safety Board recommendation pertaining to commercial air carriers.
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