Families of Continental Flight 3407

High Flight Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of Earth And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings; Sunward Ive climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth Of sun-split clouds, — and done a hundred things You have not dreamed of — wheeled and soared and swung High in the sunlit silence. Hovring there, Ive chased the shouting wind along, and flung My eager craft through footless halls of air. . . . Up, up the long, delirious burning blue Ive topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace Where never lark, or ever eagle flew — And, while with silent, lifting mind Ive trod The high untrespassed sanctity of space, Put out my hand, and touched the face of God. — John Gillespie Magee, Jr We shall never forget them -God Speed

Although fatigue has been the focus of many studies, there is a lack of available information regarding the effects of commuting and nutrition on Pilot and Flight Attendant Fatigue. This type of information could help us look at a deeper systemic problem. The economics of the industry and the transient locations of crew bases and locations at airports in costly major cities necessitate the ability for pilots, particularly those with less seniority, to commute from less expensive communities. The recent mergers only add to this. Although, it may not make sense to restrict commuting, it does make sense to give pilots the tools, resources, and education they need to succeed. Involuntary changes of crew bases are not accompanied with paid moves, home buy-out packages, etc. Many carriers do not have commuting policies to assist pilots. We cannot get to solutions until we start asking the questions.

I am designing a research project to look at the effects of commuting on pilot fatigue and other factors surrounding commuting. I am also a former commuting regional airline pilot. I will need a lot of support and funding for the project.

Those low time pilots who keep coming on here trying to defend the a position that experience (flight hours) has no correlation to safety are seriously deluded and should not hold a FAA medical certificate for that reason. Go to the insurance underwriter actuaries who spend all their time determining risk. They balance risk factors/estimated losses against the ability to price a competitive policy in the market and make a profit. Tell them experience has no bearing on safety. They would laugh you off the top floor of the skyscraper where they work, except those guys dont laugh very often.

i was reading the testimonials and watched the slideshow..it left me in tears...so many wonderful people,,,my prayers are with you

Lots of pilots here feeling attacked. Understandable but if the shoe fits... If it doesnt the "attack" is not against you. If pilots would have policed their profession they would not have allowed a pilot who repeatably demonstrated a lack of ability among the ranks. Now in the aftermath of a tragedy the burden to do your job falls on the family members of the deceased. If you dont like this level of scrutiny in you workplace then take care of business and police yourselves. The consequences of not doing so will be continued efforts for oversight, supervision, and laws to protect the traveling public. This accident is going down as the most egregious lack of situational awareness in the history of commercial air travel. Something has to be done and criticizing the efforts of those doing the heavy lifting is absurd and makes you look like a fool.

Put two experienced pilots together on a flight, both unfit to fly that day, prone to brake rules is yet the same disaster waiting to happen. Minimum hiring regulation will enforce this bad recipe, not solve it. This tragedy proved again that there is no correlation between hours flown before hiring to an airline and responsible airmanship. I second those who think duty time, rest time, working condition, airline proficency training rules must be overhauled to make aviation safer. The root causes must be explored that caused the chain of events and hiring minimums is not amongst them. Please dont get sidetracked.

Totally agree that hiring regulations wont fix anything. I get the fact its to increase safety and if thats the way it has to be, why not push to regulate the age the modern greasy teenager can get a fast food job? They handle YOUR food, that YOU order and can contain food poison because young kids are not responsible enough. Think about that before becoming impulsive with whacky regulations

While I am sorry for the loss of your family members, requiring hiring regulations on pilots will not solve anything. Accidents happen. Its a risk we all take when we step on an airplane and into our cars. Senior, more experienced pilots will still crash and lives will still be lost.

My sincere sympathy goes out to the Loftus family as well as all the families touched by this accident, Mike Loftus, Father of one of the victims was my flight instructor back in the early 1980s. Mike, if you read this, I have sent an email to the admins of this site with my contact info. Please call me so we can talk.

In the past pilots were not hired to fly as a pilot without a significant (read more than 1,500 hours) level of experience (If you quote a period during the early 60s I will point out that era saw most go to the Flight Engineer panel). The recent business model to have outsourced regional airlines bid against each other; the winner the one with the lowest cost is clearly a recipe for disaster in a safety sensitive service such as Commercial Airlines. It should be glaringly obvious to anyone that takes just a moment to think about it, this does not pass the sniff test. As the regional airlines attempt to fight each other and win the contract the winner will be the one who has successfully assembled the product with the cheapest parts. This would include the cheapest pilots, among many other things. The cheapest pilots to accept the job will ultimately end up being the least experienced; Hence the need for a new "Minimum level" of experience.

Please take it easy on the families here. This legislation regarding minimum pilot hours is endorsed by all the major pilot unions as a means of ensuring that new hire pilots have increased airmanship. While the families are certainly not the aviation experts, experienced pilots are qualified to have an opinion here.

I am disgruntled by the witch hunt you are carrying out against pilots who have between 250 and 1500 hours. Both pilots on that flight had over 1500 hours. They broke several regulations in their conduct, which led to the loss of very precious loved ones and my heart goes out all families and friends. However, punishing up-and-coming pilots is not the answer to make aviation safer. Revamping crew rest time rules with strict enforcement together with implementing mandatory minimum crew numbers per aircraft would work well to help prevent ongoing airline abuse of regulations.

Thanks again for your bravery and persistence in convincing Sen. Corkers office to release their hold on the upcoming Airline bill. Because you are willing to go on in your fight for airline safety, you are making sure the skies are safe for all of us. May God go with you and give you the strength to continue. I am sure that all good people are with you in their thoughts and prayers.

If you all want the government to step in and fix these problems, dont you dare be the same person who says they over control and regulate because with this crash thats exactly what you want them to do.

I am really proud of all the hard work that you have done and continue to do.

I grew up in western NY and somehow this tragedy struck me more than similar ones. Perhaps it was the fact that the plane was so close to making it down safely. Now that I have vied the slide show the pain of this is more real than ever. My heart goes out to all of you that lost loved ones in this awful accident. May you someday find peace in the quiet memories of those you loved and lost.

Thanks to all of you for what you are doing to fight for safer air transportation. I realize it is sadly too late for your own loved ones. You honor their memories by working diligently and tirelessly to make changes for the rest of us to ensure that this does not happen again. God bless you for that.

After viewing the "Flying Cheap" PBS Documentary, from what I can understand, it appears my federal tax money supports the FAA who appears to have more interest in satisfying the airline industry in cutting corners than in our airline safety of the general public. I view this as a serious conflict and it does not meet my expected level of ethics.

Training, Training, more Training...... It is a recurring theme. Yeah training could be more comprehensive but you are missing a very big point that only a few people here seem to get! Not everyone is cut out for this job. 10X training simply will not fix a pilot that really does not have an aptitude to be an airline pilot. Trying to "fix" a poor performing pilot with more training simply masks the biggest threat on the flight deck. Keeping a pilot up there who should not be up there.