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An advisory panel of the Federal Aviation Administration has strongly protested a new safety law passed recently by the Congress that requires airline co-pilots to have equal hours of flying experience as the captains over concerns that it could lead to higher salaries for airline pilots.
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To become a co-pilot, also called first officers, one needs a minimum of 250 hours of flying experience but the new law has raised the threshold to 1,500 hours or the equal number of flying experience needed to become a captain. However, the advisory panel fear the law will force airlines and companies that employ pilots to fly corporate planes to hike salaries of pilots that have over 1,500 hours of flight experience and airlines and companies will need to offer bigger benefits to attract more experienced fliers and retain existing ones.
University flight training schools have also joined the chorus of protest as they feel trainee pilots will skip expensive university training and opt for per-hour instruction to acquire 1,500 hours of flight experience before they can be hired by an airline. A typical flight training program offered by flight training schools cost anything between $50,000 and $80,000.
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The aviation industry has also warned that flying experience should not be the sole standard for measuring safety. "The number of hours flown should not be the sole measure of qualification and proficiency," said David Castelveter, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association. For instance, better quality academic training can enhance safety more than flying experience, the ATA said.
Though most airline pilots typically have far more flying experience than 1,500 hours, the measure passed by the Congress has raised concerns as the aviation industry fears an acute shortage of pilots once the economic recovery picks up pace.
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Hence, the advisory panel has proposed to the FAA to allow airlines to hire university-trained first officers with as few as 500 hours of flying experience while prospective pilots trained by non-university flight training schools would have to have more than 500 hours of flying experience, but less than 1,500 hours, depending upon the type of school.
The FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt supports improved training over a general requirement for more flight hours. According to Babbitt, "experience is not measured by flight time alone." But the FAA, however, has indicated that the panel's recommendations won't be the sole factor in the agency's determination of how to implement the new law. The law lets pilots fly with less than 1,500 hours should the FAA conclude academic training "will enhance safety more" than flying experience.
Meanwhile, lawmakers said they are not keen on airlines hiring pilots with less than 1,500 hours of flying experience as safety is their primary concern.
According to Rep. Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), chairman of the House Transportation and Infrastructure aviation subcommittee, the new safety law "explicitly requires 1,500 flight hours" and "any modification of that number has to be justified as making safety stronger than current ... requirements."
Agrees Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.). According to Schumer, the Congress is "crystal clear" about the minimum flying experience required for co-pilots i.e. 1,500 hours.
The FAA, Schumer said, should "put the safety of the flying public ahead of the interests of the industry insiders."
The new safety law was passed in July in response to a plane crash last year that killed 50 people. Investigations revealed that the captain and co-pilot were not physically and mentally fit to fly the plane.
