during much of the hour-long flight from newark, shaw and captain renslow were talking about personal matters, not the flight. >> it was if the flight was just a means for the captain to conduct a conversation with this young first officer. >> reporter: as the plane approached buffalo, the crew failed to notice their air speed had dropped. when cockpit warnings went off, captain renslow who failed multiple faa tests and check rides did exactly the wrong thing, and pulled the nose up causing the plane to stall and crash. at headquarters today, family and friends were read in remembrance of the 50 people who died. among them, kevin johnston's family. >> there is a lot of anger and frustration that this has gone on, that they were so incompetent up there. >> reporter: among the ntsb's findings, crew fatigue, a lack of training, lack of professionalism and maturity, a lack of experience and basic skills all contributed to the crash. >> unfortunately, it's taken 50 more lives for us to focus additional attention on these issues that have not been addressed. >> reporter: today, colgan air i

the captain, marvin renslow, was 47. was hired by colgan in 2005 with only 618 hours of flying time-- less than half the time required by most major airlines. the ntsb found that captain renslow had failed five performance tests, or check rides, some of which colgan had failed to discover. the first officer, rebecca shaw, 24, joined colgan in january 2008. she made less than $16,000 in her first year at colgan and spent the night before the crash commuting from her home in seattle. >> she commuted from seattle to memphis, stayed in a crew lounge in memphis from midnight to 4:00 a.m., commuted from memphis to newark from 4:00 to 6:30 and then hung out in the crew lounge in newark until her 1:30 show time. >> o'brien: the transcripts of the cockpit voice recorder provided clues about other problems. the first officer seemed under the weather and concerned about the cost of calling in sick. "if i call in sick," she said, "now i've got to put myself in a hotel until i feel better." and both pilots appeared tired. the transcr

the captain of the colgan air flight marvin renslow did not notice the plane was dropping dangerously low and formed the wrong maneuver as the plane began to stall. as for second officer rebecca shaw commuted through the night to get there. and blings us to pilot fatigue, are pilots too tired to fly? since the accident, still, no new regulations. some regional pilots make as little as $18,000 a year and use so-called crash pads a cheap place to work shown here in a frontline documentary airing next week. >> nine people living in a small two-bedroom apartment. with guys sleeping on the couch. reporter: then how much flying time does your pilot have. when it comes to experience, the government requires 250 hours for a commercial pilot's license. the promise to increase that. has that happened? not yet. faa in congress both working on proposals to strengthen training, to strengthen experience, to deal with fatigue but the measure in congress is bogged down because they're dealing with the health care debate. faa proposals would come out but could take years to implement those rules. it i

automatically pushed forward to head off an imminent stall but each time, the startled captain, marvin renslowlled back, the opposite of what he should have done, raising questions about his training. the co-pilot, rebecca shaw, had commuted cross country the night before the flight and was sick, raising questions about fatigue. and the captain's record showed he had failed five flight tests, called check rides, raising questions about hiring standards at the smaller regional airlines like colgan that major carriers increasingly rely on to fly commuter routes. >> these are issues that we've seen time and time again and unfortunately it's taken 50 more lives for us to focus additional attention on these issues that have not been addressed. >> reporter: the f.a.a., which promised to take action, is still drafting new pilot fatigue rules and new training requirements for regional airlines. those rules will not be implemented for months or even years, despite insistent lobbying by victims' family members, like jen quimby, who lost her father, brad green, on flight 3407. >> i feel good things can c

renslow made some big mistakes. when this plane flying approaching buffalo was slowing down, the altitude was declining, there was a warning that the pilot and the co-pilot received called the stick shaker. the control column began shaking. it moved forward. and the pilot instead of allowing the column to be forward to push the nose down to accelerate the plane, he pulled back on that control column, pushing the nose up and that turned out to be a fatal mistake. >> his failure to make standard call-outs or even a declare afternoon statement associated with the recovery attempt further suggests that he was not responding to the situation using a well-learned habit pattern. thus the captain's improper flight control inputs were instead consistent with startle and confusion. the captain had a history of training failures, indicating weaknesses with instrument flying skills which may have contributed to his deficient performance during the stall event. >> reporter: betty, that tragic accident pointed to a number of very

copilot didn't realize that they were flying too slowly, and when they started to go into a stall, renslowedure and should have pushed it down and added power and deborah hirshman said this about the crash, the chairman of the ntsb. >> what this investigation revealed is a picture of complacency, that resulted in catastrophe. as we heard, in public hearings, back in may, this investigation also revealed a number of other issues. issues such as cochairing and pilot professionalism and these issues are really larger than this accident itself. eric: the airline blamed pilot error for the accident and a lot of issues such as the stick shift, they said he did not have the training on the stick shaker on that type of aircraft, bombardier- he had on other planes situation they say led to -- >> some was fatigue and some pilot experience and i know there is a memorial planned and they plan to walk the final ten miles from the crash site to the airport and also, what will we get in terms of recommendation from hearing like this today. will it be safer in the end. >> we hope so, two major recommendat

the captain of the colgan air flight, marvin renslow, did not notice the plane's speed was dropping dangerously, then performed the wrong maneuver as the plane began to stall. >> that's a very unusual behavior. quite frankly, i can't explain it. >> reporter: as for first officer rebecca shaw, she commuted overnight from the west coast to get to work the day of the accident. her only rest, in the crew lounge before the flight. which brings us to pilot fatigue. are pilots too tired to fly? since the accident, still no new regulations. some regional pilots make as little as $18,000 a year and use so-called crash pads as a place to rest, shown here in a frontline documentary airing next week. >> nine people living in a small two-bedroom apartment. guys sleeping on the couch, they rented the couch. >> reporter: then there's the question, how much flying time does your pilot have? when it comes to pilot experience the government only requires 250 hours for a commercial pilot's license. the promise, to increase that. has that happened? not yet. both congress and the faa are working on new rules to try

this morning the ntsb officials said that the two pilots, morgan renslow, the pilot, 47 years old, they both did not notice that the plane was flying too low for as long as 18 seconds, and when they did, when their stick shifter started shake whg would indicate a stall pilot wilslow did not do the proper thing, instead of adding more power and pushing the nose down and try and get air speed. one of the members of the ntsb is dr. evan burn who described those moments just before the crash. >> his failure to make standard callouts were even a deck lative statement associated with the recovery attempt further suggests that he was not responding to the situation using the well-learned habit pattern. thus, the captain's improper flight control inputs were instead consistent with startle and confusion. >> reporter: the copilot on the right is 24-year-old rebecca shaw, she was to the shock of many americans, probably, paid by the hour, $23 an hour, when she started her career. she actually had to work in the coffee shop. so a lot of question about the regional airlines raised with this crash.