SCHUMER STATEMENT ON TRUMP’S FAA NOMINEE REFUSING TO PROTECT THE 1,500-HOUR RULE & AVIATION SAFETY LAWS CREATED BY THE FAMILIES OF FLIGHT 3407

Washington, D.C. – A longtime advocate for airline safety, U.S. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer today released the following statement after Bryan Bedford, Trump’s nominee for the Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration, refused to commit to protecting the 1,500-hour rule and aviation safety reforms created by the Flight 3407 families at his Senate nomination hearing:

“If safety is top priority, then it should be easy for Mr. Bedford to offer full-throated support for maintaining the 1500-hour rule, the gold standard of aviation safety created by the Flight 3407 families. Instead, he refused multiple times to commit to protect the 1,500 hour rule – enacted after the tragedy of Flight 3407 to prevent a similar tragedy from occurring ever again. Let me be clear: Reducing the number of hours pilots train in the air is dangerous and can cost lives,” said Senator Schumer. “When it comes to safety, I watch what FAA administrators do, not what they say. As an airline executive, Mr. Bedford has spent years attempting to undercut and circumvent the 1,500 hour rules, putting profit over safety. It is an insult to the memory of those we lost on Flight 3407 and the decades of work carried on by their families. Secretary Duffy must meet with the families immediately and commit clearly and unequivocally to the protection of the 1,500 hour rule and other air safety reforms the Flight 3407 families helped create. The safety of our skies depends on it.”

Schumer has been a long-time, relentless advocate for air safety standards following the tragic crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407. In February 2009, the tragic crash of Flight 3407 near Buffalo, New York claimed 50 lives and alerted the nation to the shortfalls in our aviation safety system, particularly at the regional airline level. In the wake of the tragedy, Schumer worked with the families who lost loved ones in the crash, to pass the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010. This landmark aviation safety legislation addressed many of the factors contributing to the increasing safety gap between regional and mainline carriers by requiring the FAA to develop regulations to improve safety, including enhanced entry-level pilot training and qualification standards, pilot fatigue rules, airline pilot training and safety management programs, and the creation of an electronic Pilot Record Database.

Notably, the legislation included a mandate that first officers – also known as co-pilots – hold an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate, which requires a pilot to log 1,500 hours of hand-on flying time in the air, and the advocacy of the families has led to many other laws including regulations to combat pilot fatigue, the establishment of the electronic Pilot Records Database, and more.

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