is time in unstructured environments. this is generally not time spent flying under instrument flight rules. this is not time spent in inclement weather conditions it's not time spent managing complex avionics or learning to work as part of a team of professional crew members. in fact, airlines are discovering that pilots with these backgrounds face great difficulty adapting to structured airline operations. since the rule was implemented, airlines have needed to screen far more applicants just to find pilots who meet their own strict internal criteria. one of our airlines, for example, seeking to hire 800 pilots successfully attracted 2700 applicants. of those, just 400 met the airlines' own internal criteria. overall, carriers reported diminishing quality of applicants given the forced time-building culture with skills deteriorating over time. one airline put it this way: we

waste a lot of time in training breaking bad habits pilots acquire while trying to quickly get to 1500 hours. a university of north dakota study highlights these concerns comparing pilots hired before the rule with those hired after. the results showed pilots hired after the rule had a significantly higher number of total flight hours but were more likely to need additional training. and less likely to successfully complete training than those hired before the rule. far from wishing to weaken these important safety measures, our objective is to strengthen first officer qualifications and provide for even better pilot training. regional airlines will continue to do our part. we've already offered wage increases, signing bonus enhanced flow through and bridge programs. airlines will continued a justing training programs and expending additional resources to ensure all new-hire pilots

have the skills to move from training into the ranks of qualified and competent line pilots. we can prevent the unintensed consequences that have developed by putting pilots into the professional ranks sooner in a thoughtful and intentional way. we are committed to enhancing the post-hire environment in a way that ensures the highest level of safety. in addition to the unintended hiring consequences we're seeing, airlines are reporting constraints on flying. without pilots to operate all equipment, airlines will be forced to upgauge while parking smaller aircraft. as this committee knows well smaller aircraft are needed for smaller communities. the impacts already seen are just the beginning. before i close i'd like to discuss compensation. the marketplace and to a great extent collective bargaining determined pilot pay. we're seeing the marketplace react with significant signing bonuses for new hires that are

increasing compensation through the the sector. however most regional airline wages are governed by collective bargaining agreements these determine how salary resources are allocated among senior and entry-level pilots. overall regional airline wages have been increasing, but the problem with the availability and the quality of new pilot candidates persist. we are proud that regional airlines have contributed an important and essential ways to the extraordinarily safe industry we are today. we're grateful for the steady oversight of this committee toward that end and its members and i thank you for the opportunity to participate today. thank you. >> thank you ms. black and we will now hear from mr. mark baker, president and ceo of the aircraft owners' and pilots association. mr. baker? >> >> thank you chairman ayotte ranking member cantwell, members

of the subcommittee. thank you for inviting me here today. i'm mark baker, president and ceo of the aircraft owners and pilots association, a not for profit individual organizationing representing over 350,000 general aviation aircraft owners and pilots. my testimony today will make three key points, first that general aviation is a national asset struggling partly as a result of poorly presentative regulatory environment. second, general aviation safety has improved significantly and can improve further if industry and government work together. third, that the general aviation is a critical juncture where regulatory changes medical reform grass-roots efforts can strengthen this important industry in 2013, general ay united nations, or ga produced $219 billion in economic output and supported 1.1 million american jobs. but ga has experienced a significant decline in recent years, losing an average of 6,000 pilots per year. at the same time, the number of

single-engine piston aircraft produced in the u.s. has fallen dramatically, from 14,000 in 1978 to just 7, new 2014. people are working to reverse this trend but we need the support of congress to create an environment that fosters growth. ga safety has dramatically improved in recent decades. we strongly believe it will continue to improve through education, technology, and rather than more stringent government oversight policies or regulations. 62% of accidents result of three causes -- loss of control, controlled flight into train and engine failures. a-okay along with the air safety institute and the government and industry partners is working to address these causes. the a-o.k. safety institute presides are free analysis regarding safety. asi produces the nation's premier safety report and offers more than 300 safety educated

products. in 2014 the asi educational outreach asuited more than two million accents. a joint steering committee works to improve sayty through data driven risk reduction efforts. they co-chaired the joint aviation joint steering committee's two most recent working groups on loss of control and developed comprehensive safety envancements being implemented by government and industry. changing technology has made safety integrated uas drones into the flight environment important. they've worked closely with the faa i to ensure regulation protects pilots, passengers and bystanders. we appreciate the faa's current regulatory efforts and last week provided by formal comments designed to close the gap in the proposed rule making. we look forward to working with faa, including providing additional education for recreational operators.

aopa and others have also recognized the need to better train and test new ga pilots following a multiyear industry and government project tests are now being reworked to ensure they're relevant, addressing knowledge, the skills and risks management. safety can be further enhanced with better and smarter aircraft. a cessna 172 manufactured today is essentially the same airplane that was designed and produced in 1955. for good reason, ford and chevy no longer produce 15955 fleets, but the cost of certification and economies of scale have slowed aircraft advancements. since 2008 faa and congress and the industry have been working to streamline and simplify part 23 certification standards which cover the manufacturing and altercation of aircraft. -- alteration. because of the average age of the fleet is now 45 years old. compare that to a car built in 1970 before safety features like air bags and crumple zones.

we must make it easier to bring safety equipment into older aircraft. while change is under way, it's moving very slowly. general aviation is evidenced by the trends i presented here of the utmost important to ga future is a third class medical reform. more than three years ago aopa petitions the faa to ektsxpand a policy used successfully for more than a decade. the fact that it's taken the faa i so long to review a limited expansion of existing standards highlights a need to reform procedures. to date, 100 bipartisan members of congress include manager of you have recognized the need for the reform and have co-sponsored legislation which would expand faa's successful sport pilot medical certification standards. i'd like to say thanks to senators inhofe, mayotte boozeman, vie camp, king kirk, fisher, hatch, helder, murkowski, rand, roberts round, shaheen, sullivan tester, wicker and widen.

in summary ga needs your help. we look forward to working with you in the upcoming faa reauthorization. both of which stand to put our industry in a much needed climb. thank you. >> thank you, mr. baker. miss gilligan, i wanted to ask you for an update on the progress of the pilots' records database and where the initiative stands and what we can expect in terms of it moving forward forward. >> thank you, senator. development of this database has proven to be quite a technical challenge we have run a proof of concept so we know conceptually what it is we need to do in order to meet the requirements of the bill. what we've run into is that the amount of records that the bill would have us incorporate into the single pilot database is creating the challenge. many records now and going

forward will be automated records but the bill calls for the complete history of every pilot currently in the commercial system and many of our pilots have been in the system for quite a long time and their records are on paper or microfiche or a number of other media some of us may even remember but most young people have never heard of and figuring out how to take to merge all of that has really created a challenge for us. in addition the cost of this system will be something faa has to look as as we go into future budget years as well. having said that i think we're making good progress on trying to understand what are those challenges in addition to the mix of records many of the records have personally identifiable information we need to make sure we are protecting. obviously we want to build the security protections against cyber attack for this database. as we layer on these requirements it has been an extreme challenge that we and

the technical folks in faa are grappling with and we expect to have a proposal in executive review in the short -- in the near future. short is probably not the appropriate word but the near future. >> thank you for the update we look forward to as you put that proposal together sharing what the plans with are the committee as well as we put together the authorization. >> thank you, senator. >> thank you. i wanted to also follow up with you on -- one of the things that from the hearing we had last week on certification, and this goes to chairman hart as well, one of the things that the certification process allows us to do is to ensure all technical and procedural steps are taken with the airframes and everything we need to do to make sure there's aviation safety. the same time, we heard from stakeholders that fertfication itself and potentially long

delays of getting new equipment can mean that pilots fly without the latest innovation in safety equipment. so how -- can you comment on this and how do you approach the need to get our pilots the best tools while still ensuring we have the adequate review of that equipment but to the extend we can use technology to improve the -- what our pilots are using i think it's important they have the best technology at their hands. >> yes, chairman we agree. for the general aviation community we are pursuing opportunities to introduce current technology into some of these older aircraft. one of the examples is the angle of attack indicator, a piece of equipment that allows a pilot to have much better situational awareness and we believe will dramatically reduce a loss of control types of accidents. we worked with the community to find a way to assure that it

provided the pilot an appropriate level of safety without having to go back through the extensive certification some of those systems have historically required. we're looking at the same approach for helicopters, roto craft to be able to add what we're calling non-required safety equipment. so it's -- we don't require by regulation that it be on the aircraft so we agree the level of certitude we need to provide is substantially less than we've had for required equipment and bringing that together we'll see good improvements. >> great thank you. i wanted to follow up on this issue of the pilots and the pilot shortage issue that there seems to be, obviously, a little bit of a debate here on what's driving the shortage or lack of shortage. and i also serve on the arms services committee and one of the things we've heard from, for example, the air force, is that they're worried that they're

going to see a shortage of pilots going forward in terms of making sure that we can meet our needs on the military side as well so i wanted to get your thoughts, captain on how do we ensure -- i know many of your counterparts probably came from the military and -- not all of them but many of them have gone from military to commercial. how do we deal with this issue to make sure that junior pilots. -- it's an important issue but in the interim we have this immediate issue that i think needs to be addressed. i wanted to get your thoughts on training. on how do we get that new talent pool coming in faster. >> i certainly will add dress that. may i just say one more thing before i answer? i have in my hand a letter written by anthony fox,

secretary of transportation to the buffalo news on march 12. about safety standards and how they are not creating a pilot shortage. while i acknowledge that some view our pilot training and qualifications rules as the sole or principle reason for pilot shortages, i do not. we believe that low wages and the scarcity of certain types of planes are likely the most significant causes not high safety standards i just wanted to get that on the record. there are and have always been many path ways to qualified experienced pilots and there continue to be. i learned to fly in high school at the age of 16 and i became an air force fighter pilot and served six and a half years and then was an airline pilot for 30 years. that pathway still exists, but there are fewer military pilots than there used to be. >> i'm married to an air force pilot so i understand. >> yes, of course you do. but one of the most encouraging

things that we've seen since the airline safety act of 2010 was passed, since the enhancements were made, is the partnerships, the effective partnerships that have developed between aviation schools, between regional airlines and their major affiliate carriers. for example we have a guaranteed interview with regional airlines for graduates of approved schools. we have flow-throw agreements from the regionals to the majors. so there are clear he defined paths, we just need to make sure that when we set standards that they are appropriate. as i said in my earlier remarks historically it's an aberration for airlines to hire people with only a minimum amount of time. typically we've had thousands of hours of experience before you're even considered to be an airline pilot. so we need to fight this false dichotomy of quality or quantity. we need to have people who have both and there are existing ways to do that. >> i appreciate that.

ranking member cantwell. >> thank you madam chair. i'm going to continue captain sullenberger and i want to say i think your testimony guided the debate as skillfully as you guided that plane to land in the hudson. and that is that this issue is about a broken economic model and about whether we're going to pay pilots enough money. i think that's the bottom line of your statement is that if you pay them they will come. and the fact that you hit on so many of the issues that concerns me about the regional carriers who take a bran name from a major corporation, everybody thinks they're meeting the same standards as the brand they're not. they think that they are meeting the same qualifications, they may not be. to me we're here because some people are suggesting that we take the 1500 hour requirement that is now required for pilots and for those who want an

airline transportation certificate and reduce that. prior to colgan air we were at 250 hours. so if you could is maybe talk a little bit about why it's so important to have 1500 hours. maybe that would help people understand. i think people are trying to say, you know what? i got a business model, i've got to drive down my price so i think the co-pilot ought to have a lot less hours. so just tell us why that's wrong headed. >> again, a history lesson. it's been 80 years since there were crevices in airline cockpits. for decades since then, we've had two fully qualified pilots in the cockpit. and let me tell you for very person experience for me and my partner jeff skiles on that sudden challenge of a lifetime flight. had jeff been less qualified people would have died. had he not been so highly

qualified that in that intention moment where there wasn't time in those 208 seconds we had from the time we lost thrusting engines until we had landed to have a conversation about what had just happened and what we must do. i had to rely upon him based upon his own long experience. based upon having deeply internalized these well-learned fundamental skills. having developed his own judgment and understanding of our airline system and our machines and our profession to intuitively and immediately understand this situation as i did and then know what he should do to assist me. i didn't have time to direct his every action so we were able to do something outside the industry people find hard to understand. we collaborated wordlessly. that's what i'm talking about. if air france 447 taught us anything is that we must have a pilot in each seat throughout the flight who's not a multicrew pilot license pilot mpl who's

not a cruise pilot who's able to quickly and effectively intervene when things go wrong after thousands of hours of them going right. that's the challenge that we the secret sauce. and as i said, there are no short cuts here. we must -- we know what we must do. we just have to have the integrity and courage to follow through and make sure we do it. when we don't do it people die. it's really that simple. >> thank you. i don't think i could have said it better, but i do want to point out the sim situation happened with the culligan air pilot. a young woman, very little training, flew all night was even maybe sick, and you're right, in a disastrous moment, the pilot had to deside the co-pilot had to help. >> they were not, and i'll give you specific reasons why. on the cockpit voice recorder we hear her say she hadn't been in these icing conditions before. they trained them on a flight

simulator that was not equipped to replicate an important safety device, the activation of the stick pusher, a device that pushes the controls forward to lower the nose when they approach a stall. that obviously surprised the captain. he reacted inappropriately. and in terms i wanted to follow up on one other thing about the regional airline association advocating that people with fewer hours get credit and go straight to regional airline seats to continue their education, continue their on-job training. the captain on the col'gan flight was hired by gulf stream bypassing other processes that other careriers at other jobs, and ultimately unneedless and preventable tragedy. for those who say these rules in 2010 were the result of a single crash, again not historically correct. there was a whole lit aenl of

regional crashes, kirksville missouri, kentucky, and others leading up to this. this was the most recent, most egregious one that finally helped us to achieve the public awareness in the political world to react to solve this series of sisystemic problems. >> thank you. >> i thank you. senator nelson. >> ms. black is it true that first officers on regional airlines for a starting salary are paid $16,000 a year? >> according to the industry statistics that i have, the first year first officer wages are at an average of between $22,000 and $24,000 per year. >> do any regional airlines pay a starting salary of $16,000? >> i'm not aware that they do. >> well i have been told that they do.

and i just wanted to point out that 138% of poverty, which makes someone eligible for medicaid, is just a little over $16,000 for an individual. and to think that that's who we would be putting into the right seat of the cockpit on a regional airline does not build confidence in the traveling public. madam chairman, what i want to do is let our members -- i just want to ask the captain, birds are attracted to water and many airports are next to water. why don't we have more accidents with birds, which you have

encountered, and have become such a hero? >> and of course, senator that's especially true in florida and places like that. >> correct. >> as populations of birds have grown and as the number of flights has increased, we are seeing increasing numbers of bird strikes. most bird strikes involve only one or two small birds. of course, what happened to us was an entirely different event. we encountered a large flock of large birds, several dozen. we saw them about 2 1/2 to 3 seconds before we struck them, and they struck the airplane across the wings, the nose and to the center of the core of both jet engines, damaging it irreparably. it's a matter of chance, quite frankly. most of the warnings we get at airports are general in nature and not particularly useful.

and of course, migratory birds could be anywhere. there are things we can do though. the good news is for resident birds when they roost and flock in a specific place we can discourage them from being near airports. that's by avoiding food sources, not allowing large bodies of water, marshlands, wetlands to be near an airport. sources of food that sort of thing. the problem this country is that while we have a national air transportation system, airports typically are owned and administered locally. and so our entire safety system for wildlife mitigation really is dependent upon local authorities having the ability to stand up to powerful interests, sometimes developers and others who might want to put incompatible uses near airports. and that's an ongoing issue and it continues to be so of great concern. >> thank you. senator wicker. >> thank you very much.

let me follow up on the issue of pilot training requirements. and i realize safety is paramount paramount, but a number of constituent groups out there are asking how much is enough and how much training is -- amounts to a disincentive and a hindrance to the smaller areas. in 2013 faa issued a final rule decrying all airline pilots and first officers hold airline transport pilot certificates. this requires 1,000 hours. previously, it was 250 hours of

flight time. gao observed that fewer students are entering pilot training programs. and that other opportunities, whether overseas, in the military or in corporate aviation, may be steering pilots away from positions with the lower paying regional carriers. so ms. black as a representative of the regional airline association, help us understand your perspective there. of course, realizing that safety is paramount. what types of solutions could the federal government whether the faa or congress implement to increase the number of pilots available for hiring by regional airlines? >> thank you. i think we need to focus on the

holistic approach to really providing for the intent of getting the well trained proficient first officers into the cockpits of our commercial airliner airliners. and that starts by looking at the kids when they're children in s.t.e.m. outreach and our organization has started to do that. as mr. sullenberger reflected, some of the other things that are important are bridge programs and flow through programs that give the student a defined career path with certainty from the beginning to the retirement flight. but what's missing right now is a seamless pathway. certainly, the certificate that the faa are issuing are declining. there are fewer students entering. there are fewer coming out. and we're seeing that at the regional airlines. and now, since the rule, again, this very narrow portion of it that requires 1500 hours in flight has meant that after they graduate from their structured training program, that they've got to go out and

build time. and they do so at their own time, their own significant expense. so this introduces some uncertainty there. we think it's worsened the growing pilot shortage. what we propose is to take the students earlier in their time. after they graduate from the structured training programs and build some time and put them into the right seat of the commercial airliners. i want to be clear this is an education. we're not teaching them to fly. they come to us knowing how to fly, and training is ongoing. training is ongoing at regional airlines and mainlines. it's constant when you upgrade on equipment and it's done right and professionally. and regional airlines have world-class training programs that rival that of our mainline partners. we look to restore the pipeline from the first flight and provide some certainty until the pilot is placed into our well structured airline safety and systems training programs and that will restore a great deal

of confidence for young people looking forward. now, to be clear the marketplace has to react, and we have seen that. the pilot wages are increasing. we've got one airline who has first-year signing bonus and a retention bonus that effectively raises their starting salary to higher than some mainline airlines. yet, that airline in particular is unable to fill its new hire classes right now. when i hear this is just an economic model i think economics play a role there and that's part of it but we need to look beyond that. and we need to develop the pilot pipeline and restore it and keep it seamless. >> okay. well thank you. i only have half a minute remaining. ms. gilligan i think i'll just submit a question on the record for you. about the contract tower program and