and it was colgan flight 3407. two pilots, two flight attendants and passengers lost their hraoeufts that evening, including one person on the ground. the airplane operated by a captain and a copilot. now, what we've discovered in reviewing the circumstances of that crash was quite extraordinary. the pilot of that airplane had not slept in a bed the two previous nights. the copilot had not slept in a bed the night before. why? the pilot commuteed from his home in florida to his duty station at laguardia airport in order to begin flying. the copilot flew from seattle, washington, dead headed on a plane that i believe stopped in memphis, tennessee, and then continued on to new york in order to reach her duty station at laguardia, an all-night long flight. and there's no evidence the night before the flight that either the pilot or the copilot did anything other than stay in the crew lounge. and there's no bed in the crew lounge. for the pilot, it was two nights there is no record of him sleeping in a bed. so you have

of this company, colgan, indicated, had we known about these multiple failures along the way of thisilot's credentials, we would not have hired the pilot. but they didn't know because they didn't have access to all of that information. this legislation provides that that access -- information shall be made available so that the hiring decisions will be better decisions. the issue of fatigue is very important and was very evident as a part of the cause, i believe, of -- of that accident in colgan. they're in buffalo by colgan, there was never a circumstance where there was an airplane accident in this country where the accident report says this was caused by fatigue. but we know, of course, that there are a number of treanldz that were caused -- tragedies that were caused by fatigue. let me just point out something that we learned with respect to this particular flight. and my aassumption is that it's not peculiar to this particular flight. this is colgan before the flight, on that evening, the co-pilot who got in the right seat of that cockpit flown from seattle, washington, to lagua

you know, the captain in the colgan flight, the c.e.o. of the colgan company said had i know the failures of that captain in certain exams and tests along the way in certifying his various licenses, we would not have hired that captain, and yet the company did not know. that will not be the case in the future. and so those are just some, not all, of the safety issues. they are very important. i am convinced that lives will be saved. i don't suggest this is the entire set of issues that have to be resolved. more remains to be done and we will remain on the case to do that. we will continue even now with additional hearings. finally, i want to say on the issue of modernization, this, too, is so important and it relates to safety but it relates to other things. it relates to the reduced use of fuel, more direct routing, better time lines for trips for passengers because they'll get to this destination more quick quickly, less spacing between airlines or airplanes in the sky, i should say, and that's because rather than fly to the old ground-

president, before she leaves the floor, let me say that the -- the families of the victims of the colgan crash, the tragedy that occurred just about a year ago now, the families have been unrelenting in coming to the congress, appearing at every single hearing, meeting with members of congress saying we want these changes. and i just wanted to say that i know the families know but new yorkers should know the work that senator gillibrand has done and senator schumer as well to try to include in this legislation, the f.a.a. reauthorization act, some very needed changes, safety changes, that resulted from what we learned in investigating that accident. senator gillibrand talked about the fact that two people entered the cockpit that evening of a commercial plane and then a number of people, 45 people, entered from another door and filled that commercial airplane and set off at night in bad weather with icing conditions and the two people in the cockpit, the person flying the left side, the captain hadn't slept in a bed tore two nights, the -- for two night, the copilot hadn't slept in a bed

if i could have the chart, i want to show a chart that shows colgan air pilots. and this could be a chart of virtually any airline, the major carriers or the regional carriers. but what it shows is where the colgan pilots were commuting from in order to get to their work station here in laguardia, new york. colgan pilots living in seattle and portland and los angeles, san francisco, and commuting to work all the way across the country. it's not unusual. commuting has been going on for a long, long, long time, but the issue of commuting it seems to me is a reasonable issue for us to try to understand and try to do something about. it also relates to the issue of fatigue. do you really think that in that cockpit on that airplane, a pilot who hadn't slept in a bed for two nights and a copilot who hadn't slept in a bed the night previous was not fatigued? it seems to me pretty unlikely that that crew was not fatigued. we don't in this bill address the issue of commuting. we address other issues -- and there is, by the way, randy babbitt, the f.a.a. administrator, now

this shows where colgan pilots commuted to go to work. can see from all over the country they commute to laguardia. there clearly is a fatigue factor, clearly. there has to be some action taken on a range of these issues -- training, fatigue, sterile cockpits which were violated in this flight, training on icing. a whole series of things like that. there is a most wanted list of the national transportation safety board that has said here's what you must do, and that most wanted list i think for 15 or 18 years has had icing and fatigue on that list, and the f.a.a. has not taken appropriate action. so i'm going to speak more about this, but i do have to go spell senator kerry who is now chairing the commerce committee. as i said, senator rockefeller, the chairman of the committee, is here, as is the senator from texas. madaresident, i yield the floor. i make a point of order that a quorum is not present. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from loui

there's a united up here and a colgan down here, and you don't know who you're flying on and so you don't know who to hold accountable. we think accountability matters, and so you are told before you buy the ticket what plane you're going to be flying on. who owns that plane? who flies that plane? so you don't, as i retaoepbl in west virginia -- routinely in west virginia, they are all propeller flights with one or two exceptions. so senator dorgan has also pointed out that 50% of all of our aviation in america -- and we do, we do fly half the people in the world. we're half the world's air traffic right in north america. so we have to know whether they're a regional carrier, and we have to know the information about them before they buy their ticket. so, passengers have been overlooked and they have been dismissed by the aviation system for so many years because we could get away with it and everybody was prospering. but along this time people were suffering, grievously sometimes. i think a lot of people -- in fact, i think of a couple of my sisters and people in my office who just, when

the tragedy of colgan air flight number 3407, which crashed outside of buffalo in february of last yearr airlines back into the public eye and raised new questions about the safety of regional aircraft and the training and experience of the pilots who fly them. we have had many hearings, thanks to senator dorgan, on this tragedy, and every single time there are victims, there are families of people who were killed in that crash in the hearing room to remind us of the changes that need to be made. pilots for regional carriers are in some cases not trained as well as for major carriers, they are overtired and they are underpaid. in fact, some regional pilots earn so little that they take second and sometimes third jobs. and many pilots live far away from their bases, leading to long commutes and even longer hours spent waiting in airports. the facts surrounding the buffalo crash bear this out. the first officer, who earned around $20,000 a year, flew to newark on a red-eye flight on the day of the accident. she arrived at 6:30 a.m. and reports indicate she spent the entire day in the newa

is what this country is supposed to be all about, for the american people, and not to the score -- colgan corp. to have pretty much been eating our lunch all of these years since reagan came in and hoodwinked. i voted for him, i was stupid, i did not realize what was going on and we look at what happened it was devastating to the middle-class, the backbone of this country. thank god there is a new era, i knew obama era. host: the republican line. florida. hello, florida? caller: paul, this is joe. i just want to say i totally disagree with the last caller. i think the age of reagan is coming back. i predicted the republicans will take over the house and senate and elect mitt romney president and 2012. i think you've got a coalition of the 27 million small businesses, the tea party people, that will give republicans a landslide win in november and house and senate and two years later, he let mitt romney president and i'm working for a strong reagan conservative to be reelected to convert. i thing reagan will come back stronger. less government, less taxes but that will be the big thing in