Friday, February 27, 2009
Crash: Too soon to find fault
Editorial commentary
Recent contributions
- Can we be a two-trolley town?
- Striving for civility
- School funding no fantasy
- Pesticide board's work will continue through merger
- Commentary archive
From the RoundTable blog
Read the latest entries
Roberto Montanez
Montanez is an aerospace engineer and a private pilot. He lives in Roanoke.
Debra Shipman's letter to the editor on Feb. 24 concerning the unfortunate accident involving the Colgan Air (operated as Continental Connection Flight 3407) is disappointing and unfair to the thousands of people who fly, maintain, secure, manage and regulate the aviation industry in this country ("Pilot's inexperience may be to blame").
In response to her question, the FAA mandates a minimum training requirement for all airline transport pilots. At a minimum, commercial pilots must have at least 1,500 hours total time broken down in a number of different conditions (night, cross-country, instruments, etc.). Colgan Air, like most airlines, has minimum hiring standards that exceed the FAA's and provides continuous on-the-job training to its pilots. There are numerous strict requirements on all commercial pilots to continue to hold the certificate, including medical, knowledge and performance evaluations on a regular basis. To the best of my knowledge, Marvin Renslow, the captain of the flight, met those requirements.
The cause of the accident of Flight 3407 is under investigation by the best agency in the world, the National Transportation Safety Board. Known for its independence, the NTSB will release its findings after it has conducted a thorough investigation. It could be a few weeks or years for the preliminary report and even longer for the final report, but if history is a guide, the report will be thorough and accurate within the limits of the available evidence.
The NTSB report may ultimately point to pilot error as the primary or contributing causes, as much as it may point to mechanical problems, design flaws, ground facilities issues, weather or acts of God. Compliance with FAA regulations will be investigated and violations will be reported, if any exist.
Shipman's ignorance of the FAA requirements is understandable given the complexity of the aviation world. However, her call to contact members of Congress to demand experience regulations without knowing what the current mandates are is nonsensical. But worst of all, without knowing the cause of the accident, she is willing to adjudicate blame to the pilots of the aircraft. By association, her letter implies that the thousands of other pilots starting their careers flying commuter airliners are ill-prepared for their mission, a statement that is simply not borne out by reality. In 2007 and 2008 there were no fatalities in the U.S. due to an aircraft accident.
I have known many pilots; I went to school with some and every month I fly as a passenger on their airplanes, many times with those "inexperienced pilots" she is referring to. I worked hard to get my private pilot license and that is one-tenth of the effort commercial pilots have to make. Those of us who work in the aviation industry and are served by it try our best to make safety our priority. I would only ask, out of respect for the victims, their families and their friends, that people make a small effort to read and educate themselves before writing that kind of letter.
There are ambulance chasers out for blood right now. Law firms have already issued press releases blaming everyone with deep pockets all over the country, often with the disguise of trying to promote safety but really trying to cash in on a terrible circumstance. Their statements are eerily similar to Shipman's. They are often lacking in facts and veracity, and attempt to outrage people in order to get a more favorable outcome for their pockets. While I hope that Shipman's intentions are truly to promote safety, the nature of the letter and type of statements suggest otherwise.
Finally, to quote from a news report: Renslow's 12-year-old daughter Kaley showed remarkable resolve at the funeral. "My dad did everything he could to save the lives of the people on the plane," she said. "But it was just his time. Along with everyone else."
