As Congress continues its deliberations of legislation to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration, the Air Line Pilots Association, Int’l (ALPA) issued the following statement to commemorate the enactment of another reauthorization bill, the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010, which significantly raised the bar on pilot training and has led to the safest period in U.S. aviation history.
“Today, our nation marks the 13th anniversary of the enactment of one of the most effective aviation safety measures in U.S. history—a bipartisan law that has reduced U.S. airline passenger fatalities by 99.8 percent. After a series of high-profile fatal airline accidents, lawmakers from both parties came together and collectively put the interests of the flying public ahead of special interests, and acted to raise the bar on air safety. Today, some argue we must compromise safety to satisfy the interests of certain corporate interests. Airline pilots and the flying public reject this false choice, and Congress should as well. We are grateful to Senate Majority Leader Schumer and Senators Cantwell, and Duckworth, along with Representatives Higgins, Langworthy and Tenney for their bi-partisan leadership and commitment to preserving these life-saving pilot training rules. We remain unwavering in our opposition to any reauthorization bill that attempts to gut these safety measures. “This critical 2010 law would not have been possible without the tireless efforts of the families of Flight 3407, who turned their grief into action to ensure that no other families would have to suffer the loss they had to endure. Their tremendous advocacy resulted in significant positive changes in aviation, and we thank and honor them for their continued efforts that have helped make the United States the gold standard of airline safety.”
