Family Members Fight for Air Industry Changes
By: Tina Shively
Updated: February 12, 2013
Today marks 4 years since Flight 3407 crashed outside Buffalo.
All 49 people aboard the plane, and one person on the ground died.
The National Transportation Safety Board found pilot error and fatigue was to blame.
Since then, the victims' families have been pushing for stricter guidelines when it comes to air safety.
They want to know why taking steps to prevent the problems that took the lives of their loved ones is taking so long.
In August 2010, President Obama signed measures into law that would change the amount of hours pilots can spend in flight, on duty and at rest.
But some of those measures still haven't been implemented.
Lawmakers met with family members today in Washington D.C. to urge the FAA to take action.
John Kausner's daughter died in the crash. He said "We do believe the industry wants no change, the industry wants to leave it status quo. They're pushing back saying 'The rules are too hard this is to difficult'. We believe that's insanity, to do the same thing over and over and think another plane won't fall from the sky on another night with another group of people standing here crying because they've lost their loved ones. We dont want that. We're here to stop that and we're here to stay and we're here to fix that."
In a statement to News 8 the FAA says they are working to implement the changes. They said "Since the Colgan Air Flight 3407 accident, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and the airline industry have made significant progress in enhancing safety. The FAA has worked with the entire industry to take a more proactive, data driven approach to safety which is helping identify issues early before they become serious problems. Over the last four years the FAA has implemented many elements of the Airline Safety and Pilot Training Act of 2010 and is diligently working to complete others. At the same time, many airlines have voluntarily taken steps to ensure that their smaller partners adopt the larger airline's most effective safety practices. In December 2011, the FAA overhauled flight and duty rules to guarantee that airline pilots have the opportunity to get the rest they need to operate safely. The FAA expects to meet the statutory deadline of August 2 to complete a new rule that will raise the required number of hours of experience before a pilot can operate the controls of any airline flight. The agency is also developing a final rule that will require more rigorous and realistic pilot training."
