WASHINGTON – In a Washington Post forum, Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao discussed a current shortage of pilots, and she feels training requirements are partly to blame.
"There is the 1,500 hour rule, which came about because of a tragic accident in Upstate New York,” Chao said to the moderator, referring to Flight 3407, which crashed in Clarence on Feb. 12, 2009.
John Kausner, who lost his daughter Ellyce in that crash, says that’s not exactly true.
"The 1,500-hour rule has been in place for 30 or 40 years. It's an FAA rule. We didn't come up with that number,” Kausner said.
Instead, Kausner says he and the Families of Flight 3407 were the driving force behind making sure that second officers, or co-pilots, of regional airlines are required to have as much training as first officers. First officers, Kausner said, already had to complete 1,500 hours of training.
He, and the many politicians who advocate for the surviving family members, aren't happy with the secretary's remarks.
"It's outrageous,” Senator Charles Schumer said in a recorded video statement. “The federal DOT ought not mess with [the rules], they save lives.”
"Disappointed and shocked,” Congressman Chris Collins said by phone from Washington.
Chao suggested that Congress start a conversation on training requirements.
Karen Eckert, whose sister Beverly died in Flight 3407, says Congress already did, and has stood by the training requirements for more than nine years.
"If you wanted more doctors, you don't lower the standard. If you wanted more engineers, you don't lower the standard,” Eckert said.
“Ask passengers boarding an airplane who is willing to settle for a pilot that is less trained and I don’t believe one flyer would volunteer to make that sacrifice," Congressman Brian Higgins wrote in a statement. "With Flight 3407, Captain Sully’s Miracle on the Hudson, and the most recent Southwest incident, history shows us again and again that training and experience matter."
Kausner and Eckert, along with Rep. Collins say training isn't to blame for a pilot shortage; Pay and the nature of the job are to blame. Entry level pilots make only about $20,000 a year.
“If you pay the proper wage for the job, you're going to get people lined up.” Collins said.
"It used to be romantic to fly overseas. It's a grind...The pay isn't good, so there's no inducement for young people to enter and fill that shortage. It has nothing to do with our rules,” Kausner said.
“There is this side effect. Unanticipated corollary impact of reducing the number of pilots,” Chao said during the forum.
"The corollary effect of raising pilot qualification is that there hasn't been a fatality in a crash on a U.S. commercial airline in nine years. That's the corollary effect,” Eckert said.
Collins, Schumer, Higgins, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, and Congressman Tom Reed all signed the following letter to Secretary Chao on Thursday.
2018.06.07 - TRAN - FOQ Letter to Secretary Chao by WGRZ-TV on Scribd