Sinema’s amendment, drafted with Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), would allow certain kinds of airline training programs to be weighted more heavily toward that 1,500-hour requirement than they are at present — a proposal similar to those already rejected by the Biden administration.
‘Blood on your hands’: Duckworth blasts Sinema for pilot training proposal
Sen. Kyrsten Sinema’s proposal had forced the Senate Commerce Committee to postpone a vote on a major aviation policy bill.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth on Thursday blasted a proposal being pushed by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema that could alter how much training a pilot needs to fly a commercial aircraft, saying lawmakers will have “blood on your hands” if they support the changes she is seeking.
“Now is not the time to put corporate profits ahead of the lives of our constituents who may want to board a commercial flight in the future,” said Duckworth (D-Ill.), an Army veteran helicopter pilot who chairs the Senate subcommittee in charge of aviation. “A vote to [change the training rules] for pilots will mean blood on your hands when the inevitable accident occurs as a result of an inadequately trained flight crew.”
- Just hours before Duckworth’s speech, the proposal from Sinema (I-Ariz.) had forced the Senate Commerce Committee to postpone a vote on a major aviation policy bill. Because Democrats hold only a slim majority in the Senate, Sinema and the panel’s Republicans could have amended the bill to include her training language.
- Democrats have largely opposed changing the training rules, and they have joined the Biden administration in targeting what they call corporate malfeasance in the airline industry.
. . .Duckworth alluded to the near-misses during her speech, calling 2023 “a chilling year” for aviation safety. She said her experience as “a pilot responsible for the lives of my crew and passengers in the most hazardous conditions” and leadership on the aviation safety subcommittee “means that I cannot be complicit in efforts to compromise on safety for the flying public.”
“There has never been a worse time to consider weakening pilot certification requirements to produce less experienced pilots,” she said.
Duckworth said the pilot shortage has been “real and painful” and that she understood “the temptation to cut corners or chase the false promise of a quick fix to a systemic challenge.”
- But she said she has asked for specifics on how many additional pilots would be available if the minimum hours were reduced and has received “no precise estimates, let alone any credible projections. . .”
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Duckworth Takes Helm of Senate Aviation Panel
The Senate Commerce Committee has rounded out its subcommittee chairs, naming Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Illinois) to lead the panel on aviation safety, operations, and innovation. Duckworth takes the reins from Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-Arizona), who remains on the committee.
- A member of the Women in Aviation International Pioneer Hall of Fame, Duckworth has been active on a range of issues since first becoming a member of the House in 2013 and then the Senate in 2017.
- Duckworth is a former Black Hawk pilot who flew combat missions and lost both of her legs and partial use of one arm when a rocket-propelled grenade hit her helicopter during a mission north of Baghdad in 2004. She has since flown as a civilian pilot.
In Congress, she has introduced legislation to foster the aviation workforce and to ease access to general aviation airport funding, as well as pushed for increasing airliner evacuation standards, among other efforts. Duckworth steps in as the aviation subcommittee works to draft a comprehensive FAA reauthorization package.
- The full committee will continue to be led by Chair Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) taking over as the new ranking member from Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi). The Committee’s first aviation hearing will be held on Thursday on Strengthening Airline Operations and Consumer Protections. That comes in the wake of the Southwest Airlines meltdown.
'Blood on your hands': Democratic Senator rips Kyrsten Sinema for proposal that would require pilots to have less training to fly commercial airlines
- Duckworth accused Sinema and Thune of caring more about 'corporate profits' and saying they will have 'blood on your hands' if the amendment passes
- For Duckworth, flight crashes are personal: she lost both of her legs in 2004 when a rocket-powered grenade hit the Black Hawk helicopter she was flying
- The Senate and House must agree on reauthorization of the FAA by Sept. 30
Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth tore into Sens. Kyrsten Sinema and John Thune for an amendment they proposed that would reduce the number of flying hours pilots would need to fly commercial.
Duckworth accused Sinema, I-Ariz., and Thune, R-S.D., of caring more about 'corporate profits' and saying they will have 'blood on your hands' if the amendment passes as part of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization.
'Now is not the time to put corporate profits ahead of the lives of our constituents who may want to board a commercial flight in the future,' said Duckworth, Ill., a former Army helicopter pilot who chairs a subcommittee on aviation safety.
'A vote to [change the training rules] for pilots will mean blood on your hands when the inevitable accident occurs as a result of an inadequately trained flight crew.'
For Duckworth, flight crashes are personal: she lost both of her legs in 2004 when a rocket-powered grenade fired by Iraqi insurgents hit the Black Hawk helicopter she was flying - making her the first American female double amputee of the Iraq War.
The Senate and House must agree on reauthorization of the FAA. The Senate Commerce Committee unveiled its own $108 billion version of legislation this week.
Sinema's proposed amendment forced the Commerce Committee to delay a vote on the massive aviation policy bill. Since Democrats only hold a slim majority in the Senate, Sinema and the panel's Republicans could have forced a change to the bill.
Smaller regional airlines have pushed for a change to the 1,500 training hour requirement before they can fly a commercial airplane.
The Regional Airline Association, which represents smaller, domestic airlines, supported changes to the rules to help with a shortage of about 5,000 pilots.
The amendment would allow certain kinds of training programs to be weighted more heavily to the 1,500 hour requirement - but also requires the FAA to prove any changes to curriculum will enhance safety. It is highly similar to one that already cleared the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.
'Most pilots only have access to an hours-based pilot qualification standard, which incorporates little actual training after completing flight school,' the RAA said in a statement this spring.
But the Air Line Pilots Association, which represents some 74,000 pilots, said in a letter to senators Thursday the amendment 'undermines the current aviation safety regime that has resulted in the safest period in air travel in history.'
Duckworth accused Sinema, I-Ariz., and Thune, R-S.D., of caring more about 'corporate profits' and saying they will have 'blood on your hands' if the amendment passes as part of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization
The association said the amendment would allow some pilots to fly with as little as 500 hours of training, a return to pre-2010 standards before Congress overhauled training requirements.
'It was this shameful era of training pilots quickly and on the cheap and the resultant series of tragic accidents, including Flight 3407 outside of Buffalo, N.Y. where all that led Congress to pass' changes, the group wrote. In 2009 a flight en route to Buffalo crashed into the ground, killing all 49 on board.
Sinema spokesperson Hannah Hurley denied the amendment would threaten safety.
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