With the legislative clock ticking and time running out, Washington, D.C., special interests like the Regional Airline Association are in overdrive trying to persuade Congress to put profits ahead of safety in the FAA reauthorization. Unfortunately for airline passengers, these lobbying efforts could threaten the unparalleled record of safety the United States has enjoyed since passage of the Airline Safety and FAA Extension Act of 2010, which improved airline pilot training, qualification, and flight-experience requirements.
In fact, since its passage, our country has not had a single passenger fatality on a commercial airliner. In the two decades prior to the bill’s passage, more than 1,100 people were killed in airline accidents, according to data from the National Transportation Safety Board.
Despite this extraordinary record of aviation safety, the lobbyists and influence peddlers are determined to change the rules and make flying less safe. And they’re waging their battle on several fronts:
- The U.S. House of Representatives is poised to consider the Federal Aviation Administration’s reauthorization bill—and the special interests are working around the clock to weaken the strong aviation safety rules adopted in 2010.
- The U.S. Senate reauthorization bill is also pending, and includes language weakening those strong aviation safety rules. We are working every day to raise the level of awareness of what this would mean for aviation safety. We have launched a public campaign that highlights the facts behind our argument: Well-trained pilots save lives. And when they are not well-trained, tragedy has – and will –strike. If you haven’t already, we encourage you to say no to weakening pilot qualifications and hold Congress accountable so they won’t reverse a decision that has led to zero fatalities on U.S. passenger airlines in the past seven years.
- The Federal Aviation Administration is expected to receive numerous recommendations today from the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee Input to Support Regulatory Reform of Aviation Regulations, including one offered by profit-focused special-interest groups that would weaken these pilot-training qualifications—and jeopardize passenger safety.