Ronald J. Hansen
Arizona Republic
A proposed amendment that could affect pilot training that is supported by Sen. Kyrsten Sinema halted on Thursday a Senate hearing to reauthorize the Federal Aviation Administration and led a Democrat to predict supporters of it would have “blood on your hands.”
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., bluntly attacked the amendment backed by Sinema, I-Ariz., and Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., on the floor of the Senate. The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee unanimously passed its version of an FAA reauthorization bill earlier this week.
The proposed Senate amendment would allow the FAA to consider changes to the current 1,500-hour rule for commercial pilot training, a move favored by some in the airline industry. It doesn’t mandate changes, which the FAA must determine enhance safety.
The dispute over the amendment led the Senate Commerce Committee to postpone consideration of a bill to reauthorize the FAA.
Duckworth, who chairs a subcommittee on aviation safety and piloted a helicopter shot down by enemy fire in the Iraq War, seized on the issue Thursday when she addressed the Senate.
“Simply put, reducing hours … represents a serious risk with no reward. It represents an unacceptable backsliding, a dangerous complacency in an industry where complacency kills,” she said.
“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. A vote to reduce a 1,500-hour rule for pilot training will mean blood on your hands when the inevitable accident occurs as a result of an inadequately trained flight crew.”
Hannah Hurley, a spokesperson for Sinema’s office, said the amendment would not undermine safety as Duckworth said.
“This broadly supported, bipartisan amendment empowers the FAA to determine the safest way to train pilots and continues Kyrsten’s laser focus on increasing aviation safety,” Hurley said.
Duckworth’s office did not respond to a request that she elaborate on her remarks.
