The South Dakota Airports Conference that took place recently in Mitchell provides passengers and air cargo shippers with an opportunity to recognize something that we often take for granted: the extraordinary level of safety in air transportation. When you consider how dangerous it was to fly in the early years after the Wright brothers took their first flight and that now some 27,000 flights take off and land safely in the United States every day, what some may take for granted should instead be viewed as a tremendous achievement.
As an airline pilot who has flown into and out of Sioux Falls, I’m proud to be part of a profession that’s priority is protecting the safety of the traveling and shipping public. Speculation may exist regarding whether the Wright brothers lived in South Dakota in the years before that first flight, but I can tell you that airline pilots don’t speculate — we base our actions on facts. Every day and on every flight, airline pilots gather data on every aspect of our flight operation. From weather patterns, runway conditions and mechanical status to diversion airports in case of an emergency, captains and first officers make decisions based on data and with safety as our only focus.
This fact-based approach is also true for the federal regulations that safeguard the passengers who fly in the U.S. For example, prior to passage of the Airline Safety and FAA Extension Act of 2010, the U.S. suffered four high-profile fatal airline accidents over a six-year period, including the crash of Colgan Air Flight 3407 just outside of Buffalo, N.Y. Scores of passengers, as well as airline pilots and cabin crew, died in these tragic events.
The investigations of these accidents exposed serious pilot qualification and training inadequacies. The National Transportation Safety Board, the U.S. government’s independent investigative agency, was among the organizations calling to improve standards for how individuals can become qualified to work as an airline pilot and the training they receive once they do.
Congress responded and passed the Airline Safety and FAA Extension Act, a measure that the president of the Air Line Pilots Association says was “written in blood.” The law required new-hire first officers entering the cockpit to meet safer qualification standards and have more flight experience. Since this law was passed, the U.S. has not experienced a single passenger fatality due to an accident on a scheduled U.S. passenger airliner operating under the Federal Aviation Regulations known as Part 121.
The facts show that by improving training and qualification requirements for first officers, we’ve improved the safety of our skies. Despite this, some special interests in Washington, D.C., are seeking to weaken these proven standards using the false claim that the new qualification requirements are causing a pilot shortage and hence, fewer flights to S.D. An airline’s economic bottom line determines where it flies. Those who irresponsibly promote a fabricated pilot shortage to attempt to roll back safety regulations won’t change air service to S.D., but they will threaten the safety of our nation’s aviation system.
While S.D. may sit in the geographical center of the U.S., the numbers across the nation show that our country has more than enough pilots available to satisfy the need now and in the immediate future. The achievements in airline safety since 2010 make it clear that there should be no change to the safety rules.
I know when my friends and family get on a plane, they are going to benefit from the world’s safest mode of transportation. I also know that the last thing they want to do is to compromise their safety to satisfy special interest groups in Washington, D.C.
No comments:
Post a Comment