Buffalo, NY (WBEN) Members of Flight 3407 victims' families met this week with new FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford to press him on keeping flight training rules intact.
Scott Maurer, whose daughter Lorin, died in the 2009 crash, says Bedford wanted to meet with him and other family members because he considers the part of the aviation safety stakeholders in the country. "I think he wanted to extend an opportunity to meet with us face to face, and just begin some kind of a dialogue," says Maurer. That meeting was on Wednesday, and Maurer and others remembered Bedford's comments on possibly reducing pilot qualification requirements, so they challenged him with some questions along those lines. "All to which his response pretty much in line with what he had to say at his confirmation hearings," says Maurer. "He said,' Look at this time, there are more important areas for him to focus on as the FAA administrator, namely, air traffic control, the near miss incidents that have taken place.' That said, when we pressed him, could you commit to not making changes? He would not make that commitment, to not make changes down the road, but right now, there's no intent to make any changes."
Maurer and others they that is understandable. "None of the near miss situations and, frankly, any of the domestic aviation incidents that have occurred here domestically over the last 15 years are the result of pilot error and pilot mistakes," explains Maurer. "Ultimately, he agreed his focus needs to be on taking care of some of the critical issues that are occurring right now, namely, the DCA crash involving a helicopter and and a regional airline, both of which seem to indicate there's some issues with communications between how military aircraft fly, and commercial aircraft fly, as well as some problems with shortages of air traffic controllers and the communication of air traffic controllers with commercial pilots."
How hopeful is Maurer that Bedford will keep the 1,500 hour minimum for flight training in place? "Knowing his track track record, it gives us significant pause," notes Maurer. He notes Bedford, as the FAA administrator, can make the change without an act of Congress. Maurer says he and other family members have good arguments. "After 15 years of no issues, why would you even want to consider making the change? And he didn't really have a good response for that," says Maurer. He thinks it's 50-50 right now.
