next we will hear from captain john prater, the president of the pilots association. >> we commend this committee for calling this hearing to take a closer look at some of the critical issue looking at pilots and our charges. training and mentoring were at the top of the agenda at the faa's call to action summit in which we participated 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 an agreed-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 has resulted in the large growth in 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 pric