WASHINGTON – The flight safety rules passed after a 2009 plane crash in Clarence survived yet another potential challenge on Thursday when the Senate Commerce Committee approved major aviation legislation that includes no changes to those regulations.
Seven hundred or so emails later and with a lot of help from their friends, the families of Continental Flight 3407 beat back the biggest threat yet to the aviation safety reforms they forced through Congress – for now, at least.
In a unanimous bipartisan vote, the panel approved a bill reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration’s operations for the next five years. The bill, which will eventually be merged with a similar House-passed measure, boosts the number of air traffic controllers and also increases safety inspections at aircraft manufacturing facilities.
But thanks to the lobbying efforts of the Families of Continental Flight 3407 and New York lawmakers, the measure includes no changes to the 2010 air safety legislation passed in reaction to the crash in Clarence.
The airline industry has long pushed for changes to the part of legislation that requires new pilots to have the equivalent of 1,500 hours of of experience before being hired by a commercial airline. The airlines say that rule has led to a…
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