Inexplicably the GOP controlled House passed a regulation paralyzing amendment, sponsored by Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Pa, to a bill that will authorize funding for the FAA for the next several years.
The families of the casualties of the tragic crash of Continental Flight 3407 that took place in February 2009, pushed last year for passage of tougher safety measures after it was deemed that the crash was due to pilot error. Investigators believe that fatigue played a major role in how the pilots reacted when they got caught in a an ice storm as they attempted to land in Buffalo. The co-pilot took a cross-country overnight flight and reportedly only slept briefly in an airline lounge the day before the crash. Both of the pilots were also heard yawning on the cockpit recorder. After 15 months of lobbying Congress, the families got a bill passed that raised pilot qualifying and training standards. The Shuster amendment will make it much more difficult for the federal government to enforce those new regulations. It warrants mentioning that Shuster has received $115,750 from the aviation industry over the course of his political career. Needless to say the families are outraged.
Susan Bourque of East Aurora, who lost her sister, said “You can try to dress this up however you like, but we all know which special interests that the amendment is attempting to help and what it’s attempting to do for them, which is make it more difficult for the FAA to do its job and regulate them,”. Chesley Sullenberger, hero pilot that landed a US Airways jet in the Hudson River in New York saving all 155 lives that were aboard said about the amendment “it creates a huge obstacle to new regulations,” and that, “at some point in the future, we don’t know when, it’s likely people will die unnecessarily.” Here he is on MSNBC’s The Ed Show via Thinkprogess.org Youtube channel speaking about the issue.
The Devout Infidel 