As FAA prepares to propose new limits on pilot hours, advocates complain about delay

Thursday, September 9, 2010; 7:49 PM

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood wrote in June 2009 that the Federal Aviation Administration was in a hurry and wouldn't wait for Congress "to add mandatory layers to airline safety," nor even for crash investigators to complete their work, "because air passengers deserve action. And they deserve it now."

It's taken 15 months and a half-dozen missed deadlines, but the FAA is set to propose new regulations on how many hours airlines can schedule pilots to be on duty or in the cockpit. A draft was submitted to the White House Office of Management and Budget last week, and a proposed rule is likely to be published within days, industry officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to address the issue publicly.

A House hearing on the proposal is scheduled for next week.

It will likely be months - possibly even a year or longer - before any new rules take effect. Pilot unions and relatives of crash victims who have been campaigning for the changes said they're troubled by the lengthy process when safety is at stake.

"You can't be anything but concerned about the delays. This is supposedly (Federal Aviation Administration chief) Randy Babbitt's number-one priority," said Kevin Kuwik, a spokesman for relatives of the victims of Continental Connection Flight 3407, which crashed near Buffalo in February 2009. A National Transportation Safety Board investigation found that both pilots were probably suffering from fatigue, though that wasn't a direct cause of the crash.

At a private meeting with White House officials in June, relatives were assured the issue is a priority, he said.

Transportation and FAA officials declined to discuss the reason for the delays. Transportation Department spokeswoman Olivia Alair said only, "We are working as quickly as possible to get the proposal out for comment."

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