Urges Congress To Resist Special Interest Attempts To Weaken Aviation Safety

As the U.S. House of Representatives continues to discuss the upcoming reauthorization of the FAA, the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) sent a letter to members of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee reminding them that any attempts to weaken air safety regulations will undermine the nation’s extraordinary aviation safety record.

“When Congress passed the Airline Safety and FAA Extension Act of 2010, a landmark aviation safety legislation, the United States took a significant step in advancing aviation safety. Since its passage, our country has not had a single passenger fatality due to an accident on a scheduled U.S. passenger airliner operated under Federal Aviation Regulations Part 121,” said Capt. Tim Canoll, ALPA president.
 
Prior to this bill’s passage, the United States experienced four high profile fatal airline accidents over a six-year period, including the Colgan Air Flight 3407 accident on February 12, 2009, just outside of Buffalo, N.Y. These airline accidents, which killed scores of passengers, focused the nation’s attention on how to increase aviation safety.
 
“There are special interest groups in Washington, D.C., who, for reasons of profit, seek to weaken our air safety regulations,” added Canoll. “This law significantly improved training and qualification requirements for first officers—and improved the safety of our skies. It is a measure that was written in blood and should not be weakened in any way, shape, or form. ALPA’s 55,000 pilots know we can count on you to stand with us to block any efforts to roll back these critical safety regulations.”

(Source: ALPA news release)

FMI: www.alpa.org