WASHINGTON — Congress is taking steps to toughen regulations on pilot training, qualifications and hours in response to accidents involving regional airlines, including a February crash in upstate New York that killed 50 people.
Lawmakers want to raise the minimum number of flight hours required to become an airline pilot from the current 250 to 1,500 and give air carriers greater access to the past training records of pilots they’re considering hiring.
The bipartisan proposals are contained in a House bill introduced Wednesday by key members of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
The committee is expected to vote today to send the bill to the full House for action.
The impetus for the bill was Continental Connection Flight 3407, which crashed Feb. 12 as it prepared to land at Buffalo-Niagara International Airport, killing all 49 aboard and one man in a house below.
Testimony at a National Transportation Safety Board hearing in May indicated the flight’s captain and first officer made a series of critical errors leading up to the accident.
