grandfather of two, i can't begin to imagine the pain that comes from a so tragically losing a loved one. it speaks very highly of all the families here today that you are working to take what must be such a deep sorrow and focusing it on improving airline safety and helping other americans. i'm looking forward to hearing your testimony, maurer, and the recommendations this morning and to both the chairman and i and i be to everyone on the committee. we thank you for the sacrifice that you're making to try to improve the system for others. >> senator demint, thank you very much. let me ask others if they would limit openingcomments to two minutes and we will have seven minutes of opening round when we hear. >> after chairman, very quickly, thank you for calling this hearing because they'll are flight safety record is so outstanding, when we look at the

total of the aviation, it services, the situation with her colbrunn flight is one that shook our bodies, our minds, the plaintive off from newark liberty international in february, cost the lives of 50 people. flight 3407 taught us that we need to improve pilot training, address like, and consistent safety standards for both regional and large air carriers. and just last year we saw a disturbing report about safety inspection failures where the faa let planes filled with passengers take off with cracked holes. and these failures forced the cancellation of thousands of flights from airlines who may not have taken as seriously.

and so we are anxious to learn whatever we can about the failure of the good precautions with flight 3407. and we extend our sympathies also to mr. maurer. and we would like to be able today to promise when we're finished with these hearings, mr. chairman, that we will have done whatever we can to make this excellent safety record that exists for the american aviation even better. and we look with interest at what our witnesses have to say. >> senator johanns. >> thank you, mr. chairman. my comments will be very, very brief. let me tell you what i'm thinking about and hoping to accomplish through this process. i think the burden is on the airlines to prove to the

american people that when we get on for the price of arctica, whatever that is, that we're going to have the well experienced crew who will treat us politely and decently, an airplane that is safe as can possibly be hurt and i think really the burden is there. when i think about this flight, and i felt so badly for these families, but this hearing is bigger than that one flight. i think about questions is is the plain save. what's the inspection background of this airplane. what would the service record show me if i were to take a look at it. i asked myself, is the crew got the training, the talent, the background, the discipline, have they gotten a good night's sleep so they can handle all situations. i had a pilot, dear friend of mine, he flew small planes who

said to me, you know, flying is hours and hours of boredom followed by moments of sheer terror. and that always stuck with me. i ask myself does the crew know when they are entering a situation that is beyond their capability? or their airplanes capability. are they trained well enough and do they have the talent and experience and background to see the situation and say, i'm not going to expose my passengers to that risk. i don't care what somebody above me is trying to say. and those are the things that i hope to accomplish is in this hearing. so my hope is that we can focus on some of those questions and others. and i will wrap up by just saying, mr. chairman, thanks for calling this. it's such an important topic, and just glad to be here today thank you very much. >> thank you very much mr. chairman. i will be very, very brief.

i look for to the questions and answers, but i will be looking at this from two perspectives. one is as a united states senator but also one of the boston family member, my father, in a plane crash so i look at from two different perspectives. and i will be anxious to ask several questions and i don't want you to take any of the personal. i think this is an important issue as just described by several senators here of regards to our airplay because as people walk on airplanes assuming they are safe, transportation modes, and it's going to be important that we make sure they continue to improve on the record you have today. again, i'm going to become from two perspectives and i hope you recognize that. thank you very much. >> senator thune. >> mr. chairman, i too want to thank you for conjuring and i want to thank our panelists are being here, especially mr. maurer. again, our condolences to you and your family and all the families, very tragic, tragic incident. and i applaud you for committing herself to making sure this doesn't happen to any other

families thank you for your efforts and the courageous work that you are doing coming from a state like mine, we have a heavy reliance on regional airlines. they apply an important role in transporting passengers from smaller communities who otherwise would not have scheduled air service. and while i don't, you know, think again that no one is arguing that we shouldn't take our overall aviation safety record for granted. i also believe there's room for improvement. we want to ensure that the faa and airlines are doing everything they can to improve the overall safety record when it comes not going to regional airlines, but to all airlines. and i particularly want to hone in on something that we discussed at the subcommittee last week, mr. chairman, and that is the need to incorporate more information regarding the background of pilots. i think it just makes sense that we work to ensure that the faa incorporate a more accurate picture of a perspective, prospective pilots and flight

history when an airline is looking to make a hiring decision. and voluntarily requesting this information just isn't good enough. i think there's more than congress can require when it comes to updating the pilots record improvement act. i hope we can work on that in this committee to make some of those changes because i think clearly that came into play in this very tragic incident. but again, thank you for holding the hearing and i want to thank our panelists and look forward to hearing from you. >> senator thune, thank you very much. as several of my colleagues have mentioned, we look at these issues through the lens of tragedy, regrettably. but in many cases and i expect mr. maurer is here in the hope that what we learn will save other lives and improve airline safety, and all of us would i think embrace that goal. so with that in mind, we have for witnesses and i want to call on mr. jim may 1 debate with mr. jimmy is president and chief executive officer of the air

transport association of america. mr. me, you and i have discussed all of the issues that have been discussed this morning. the same as the case with mister cohen. we've had these discussions. let me call on you. let me say to all four of you that your entire statement will be made part of the permanent record, and would ask that you summarize your remarks. >> thank you. >> and we pulled a very close and turn it on. thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and good morning. let me also share my condolences with mr. maurer and the other representatives of the families that lost loved ones aboard the cole can air flight. it is a terrible, terrible tragedy. in the airline industry, safety is our highest priority. we try very hard to assure that we never cover my safety because of economic conditions. we work closely with all members of the aviation community, including regional airlines to achieve extraordinary records. no fidelity's from mainline

carriers for the past number of years, and it really is in that spirit and i appear before you today with an understanding that no accident is acceptable. we have a responsibility to understand through rigorous and search and inquiry the causes of the buffalo accident. ended to take what ever single or corrective measures are needed. in light of that responsibility, we are very fortunate that there are three expert government forms in which scrutiny is happening today right now. this is as it should be. the public needed to be confident in the responses to aviation safety issues. the national transportation safety board's ongoing investigation is going to produce a far more complete picture than we have today. in this as in previous accident the board is the authoritative source for making that determination, and recommending corrective action. in addition, the department of transportation's inspector

general recently began an assessment of federal aviation administration's oversight of certification, pilot qualification, training and other issues that his response, mr. chairman, to your very direct inquiry. when this review was announced, we immediately offered our resources and focal operation to the inspector general, his evaluation and constructive suggestions that we know will result from it, will augment the ntsb's effort. finally, the faa's call to action held on monday of this week is a broad-based initiative to look at safety including those raised in this morning's hearing. we attended multiple representatives of 80 bit of monday's meeting and were impressed by the participants focused on concrete issues and their understanding of the need for very prompt solutions. we look forward to being engaged with the faa and other interested stakeholders in this vital work. i don't believe that any topic

should be off the table in the call to action. we need to have a full and frank discussion about safety and the factors that contribute to it. there are disparities between mainline and regional safety programs. if so, they should be closed and closed quickly. let me suggest a six or seven steps that need to be pursued right now today. first, i think we need to apply flight operation quality assurance programs used by major carriers to regional airlines it works, the collection and analysis improves safety. second, apply asap, aviation safety action programs which encourage safety issues and events that come to the attention of employees to those regional airlines that don't currently have such a program. third, identify advanced training at practices of mainline carriers to be used by regional carriers.

it's in hup program and the jargon. fourth, we need a centralized database of pilot records to give airlines easy access to complete informatiinformation about applicants from the time they very begins her flying career. fifth, let's see if the faa needs to increase compliance with the sterile cockpit rule, and what measures it should use to do that. sixth, let's examine flight crew preparedness when pilots report to work. this means looking at crewmember commuting. if this means examining flight into the times issue, i think that's perfectly appropriate, but tie into the commuting side of that equation. as long as any examination is based on science. not antidotes. each of these initiatives can and should be achieved in short order. we're looking forward to working with this committee, the faa, the ig, the ntsb, and ask whopper to as fashion as

possible. thank you, mr. chairman. i will be happy to answer a question. >> mr. me, thank you very much your next we will hear from mister cohen. you may proceed. thank you. chairman dorgan, senator demint and members of the subcommittee. i'm roger cohen and i am president of the regional airline association. i want to express our deepest sympathy for the lives of the passengers and crew of flight 3407 that were lost and for the families affected by the crash. we deeply share in their grief. i also want to express today not only for our member airlines, but for our 60000 highly trained professionals, our total unwavering commitment to safety. as we work towards ensuring patient as we work towards this, let's make sure this postaccident process does not have to be repeated. we will take whatever steps are necessary so that our flight

crews and our aircraft are as safe as humanly possible. the safety of our nation's skies is a shared responsibility. at monday's faa summit, five of our regional airlines ceos and other senior leaders, five of our ceos joined with federal agencies, major airlines, and union representatives to candidly explore all of the issues making headlines over these past few months. regional airlines have but one objective. and that's to prevent any future accidents. and as we do that, as this committee has noted, it's important to keep our perspective and to reassure the american public that flying is extremely safe. in fact, until this recent tragedy, commercial airlines had gone the longest period in aviation history without a fatal accident. working collectively, rolling up our sleeves, with all parties, government, labor, manufacture

manufacturers, airlines have steadily improved our safety record over the course of many decades of safety initiatives, investigations, and reviews of accidents and incidents, large and small. nevertheless, we can and must do better. our industry's number one goal has been and always will be zero accident and zero fatalities. mr. chairman, at your request, our memory airlines provided the committee very detailed information about their operations, their training, their hiring, their employees. today we will try to better define the regional airline industry to clear up some of the misconceptions. more importantly, we will talk about the steps that regional airlines have already taken and the actions we plan to take to further focus our total commitment to safety and accident prevention.

our airplanes typically carry up to 100 passengers. more than 50% of all of the scheduled airline passenger flights in the united states are on regional airlines. and most notably, three out of every four commercial airports in this country are served exclusively by regional airlines. are airlines, as you indicated, operate largely in seamless hardship with the major airlines. regional airlines provide the crew and aircraft while major airlines set the flight schedules, the fares and the customer service policies. regional airlines and our major airline partners operate as a single integrated system. one ticket, one trip, one safety standard. all passenger airlines are subject to the exact same faa safety standards and requirements. it's been this way for more than a decade.

our goal is to prevent accidents. and that's why we are earnestly and eagerly supporting the faa's call to action, and why the regional airline association has embarked on our own strategic safety initiative to underscore our safety culture and to help prevent accidents. this tricky dick safety initiative has four elements. first, our safety professionals who do all of the procedures and address any issues that can even be perceived as a contributing factor to an accident. second, we will conduct a thorough review of fatigue looking at all the human factors in the scientific field to minimize the risks associated with fatigue. third, we will implement a fatigue awareness management program so that our airlines keep this issue top of the mind for both our flight crews and just as importantly airline

management. fourth, we will reach out in partnership with you and congress, across the government into our fellow stakeholders in labor and throughout the aviation industry to explore the full range of issues which could help us improve safety and prevent future accidents. and among those are, number one, establish a single integrated faa database of pilot records. second, explore random fatigue testing. third, examine the practice of commuting. fourth, extend the period for background checks from five to 10 years. and fifth, seek to analyze the information from cockpit voice recorder in settings other than accident investigations. and mind all this terrific data of checkride to look for trends to help prevent future accidents. mr. chairman, regional airline

association thank you for the opportunity to testify today, and for opening the dialogue on these critical issues. we look forward to keeping you informed, and i welcome any questions you might have. >> mr. cohen, thank you very much for your testimony. next we will hear from captain prater, the president of the airlines association. >> thank u., chairman dorgan. we commend this committee for calling this hearing to take a closer look at some of the critical issues affecting airline pilots and our charges. many of these issues, pilot screening and hiring standards, training and mentoring were at the top of the agenda at the faa's call to action summit in which we participate on monday. while this meeting was a critical first step towards developing solutions to these problems, we encouraged the faa to take a more structured approach in working with the airlines and labor to establish and agree to implementation plan

for all parties to adopt. in recent years, we have to look more at the system. the major airlines have come to rely heavily on code share arrangements with the so-called regional airlines to connect large, midsize and small cities in the u.s., in canada, in mexico to their international hubs. this is resulting in exponential growth of the regional sector of the industry. still the major carriers exert a great deal, almost total pressure on the regional airlines to provide their service at the lowest possible price. they control ticket pricing and schedules, and they regularly move line between the regional partners. this exacerbates breaking the chain of pilot experience, couple that with 160 or more bankruptcies in the airline industry and airline pilots leaving the industry because there's been no way to protect and retain that experience in the cockpit.

we start over again and again. some of the major airlines even today are outsourcing their flying to the regionals, and laying off their own pilots, losing those decades of experience in the profession. these experienced pilots cannot afford to work for one of these so-called regional carriers as a newly hired first officer. as a result, many of the smaller regional carriers higher pilots near the faa minimum standards and do not employ adequate screening processes during hiring that identify that ideal candidate. as was brought out during the ntsb's recent hearing on the tragic accident in buffalo, many pilots who fly for the regional airlines are not getting adequate training or enough rest. airlines are requiring pilots to work longer days and more of them each month. fleet and a frequent base changes are forcing pilots to decide between commuting or possibly taking another pay cut to train on new equipment.

the consequences, the quality of airline pilot careers has been greatly diminished, and the severe erosion of benefits and quality of life are motivating experienced aviators to move to other professions. current training practices do not take into account the drastic change in pilot applicants experience. instead, they assume that pilots are far more experienced and they may actually be. there must be a new focus on standardization and even on fundamental flying skills. to meet this challenge, airlines and other training providers must develop methodologies to train for that lack of experience and to train for judgment. current training practices may also need to be adjusted to account for the source and the experience level of that new pilot entering into initial training with his or her airline. they also believe there should be more stringent academic requirements to obtain both

commercial and airline transport pilot ratings in preparation to start a career as an airline pilot your the faa should develop and implement a structured and rigorous ground school and testing procedures for pilots who want to qualify to fly 4121 airlines. alpha also recommends that specific command and leadership courses for new captains to instill in them the necessary skills and traits to be a real leader on the flight deck. airline should also implement mentoring programs for both captains and first officers as they first enter operations in their new crew positions to help them apply the knowledge and skills to line operations, from their more experienced peers. flight experience and by the capabilities cannot be measured by mere five hours. we must remember that each and every pilot out there today has met the faa standards, has met and trained and exceeded the standards of their airline who's

responsible for certifying them. turning to another area of concern, for two decades you have heard me and my predecessors speak about the problem of pilot fatigue. it's time. we need to address those rules and we need to change them. other means to enhance safety and improve airline operations we agree with mr. may. data collection and analysis programs such as foca. we need to share that affirmation across the industry and modify our practices to make sure that the best practices are being used by the entire family of airlines. in order to allow those programs did grow and make these reports more readily attainable, additional protections will be needed to limit the use of foca data in civil liability cases and to make sure increase safety. the best safety device on any airplane is a well-trained, well rested, highly motivated by the.

a strong safety culture must be instilled and consistently reinforced from the highest levels within an airline, and among its cochaired regional partners. thank you for the opportunity to dress you. i will be ready to take any questions. >> thank you very muc much, and. and now we will hear from judge sotomayor, mr. scott marker i know that your daughter was a passenger on that flight and i know that it is likely difficult for you to speak publicly about these issues, but on behalf of the families i believe that all of you wanted an opportunity to do that, and i'm please to give you that opportunity, and our thoughts and cities are with you and the family's. >> thank you, and bear with me. >> on behalf of the families of flight 3407, we would like to thank you, chairman gordon, and breaking senator dement, and all the other subcommittee members

of aviation for the opportunity to speak to you today. my name is scott maurer and you heard my daughter lorin maurer was a passenger on flight 3407. tomorrow at 10:17 it will be 18 weeks into our lives were changed forever. the minutes, hours, days and weeks that have passed since this tragedy has been an unbelievable nightmare for all of us. it's a pain that you will never know, and certainly one we hope no one else will face. we believe very strongly the crash did not have to happen, and was preverbal. as such, we are here today and will be here tomorrow and beyond to ask for your help and push for change so that other families can be spared this pain. when my 30 year old daughter, lorin maurer, and athletics fundraiser at princeton university and future athletic director purchased her ticket from continental airlines, she

assumed the pilots would who would fly that plane were competently trained. she thought they had significant experience and knowledge of the plane, and all of the flight control features. as she took her seat in three a., for an exciting valentine weekend to join her boyfriend, kevin kuwik in buffalo, i'm sure that she believed the pilots at the controls had been trained to handle cold weather flight conditions, stalls, and other emergency situations that all pilots are expected to be prepared to confront. there are many other examples i could share from the victim's perspective, but time limit will not allow today. the critical message i do want to relay to you here today is that what the american public buys a ticket, from an airline, they assume and expect that safety -- that their safety is in good hands. sadly, we find that that is not always the case, and we are here

today imploring you for assistance and action. so how can you help? number one, let's put the best pilot in the cockpit and set them up for success. now this sounds very simple, but in reality it takes money to do this. and the airline industry is not stepped up to the plate. pilot hiring procedures, training, fatigue management and compensation have all been discussed throughout these hearings. the immediate attention focused on the failures of colgan air and it's flight crew called for a hastily summoned meeting earlier this week bringing together representatives of the faa and the airline industry to discuss these very same issues. unfortunately, meetings of this magnitude have been done before, resulting in little change. as the costs have always been too high for implementation.

to break down the bureaucratic logjam, the families of the victims are now forced to ask congress to intervene, and do the right thing for public safety. number two, better aviation oversight by the federal government. americans believe that the role of the faa is that of a gatekeeper, an agency that is technically trained and expertly qualified to watch over the airline industry for the safety of the american public. we have certainly identified leaks in this dyke. while we are optimistic that the newly appointed administrator hears our pleas for action, we fear that the obstacles thrown up by the airline industry and pilot unions will be very hard to overcome. again, we are asking for congressional intervention. as history of these organizations voluntarily taking action to improve safety has been woefully inadequate. .