FAA Pushing for Higher Pilot Qualifications

Mar 11
11:25

2012

Steve Robinson

Steve Robinson

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While cheap airplane tickets and cheap vacation packages motivate many to travel, airline safety remains a top priority for everyone who flies.

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To improve airline safety,FAA Pushing for Higher Pilot Qualifications Articles the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is proposing new regulations whereby airline co-pilots will have to meet the same level of experience as captains before flying commercial aircraft.

Under this proposal the minimum number of flight hours required to fly a commercial plane would be 1,500 for all pilots.  Captains currently are required to satisfy this threshold whereas co-pilots are only required 250 hours before being able to fly for an airline.

As part of the new proposal, co-pilots would also have to be type rated to the specific plane they will be flying.  Currently only captains have to meet this standard.  Additional training and testing of co-pilots would be necessary.

Co-pilots who are former military pilots will only be required 750 hours before flying for an airline.  Graduates of a university or college flight school will only need 1,000 hours.

University flight schools are firmly against the 1,500 hour requirement, contending that it could make an airline career too expensive because students would have to spend tens of thousands of dollars flying the additional hours.

Supporters of the new safety regulation include pilot unions and air crash victims’ families.

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