At a February 24 hearing on aircraft icing legislators criticized the FAA for delaying implementation of rulemaking that would address outstanding issues on the NTSB’s “Most Wanted” list. “After the
Colgan Air Flight 3407 accident near Buffalo last year,” said committee chairman James Oberstar (D-Minn.), “it was widely speculated that the aircraft crashed due to icing. While icing was ultimately determined not to have caused the accident, it highlighted the issue of icing.”
Congressman Jerry Costello (D-Ill.), chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, pointed out, “It has been 13 years since a commercial air carrier was involved in a fatal icing-related accident. However, between 1998 and 2007 there were 523 icing-related aviation accidents involving small [commercial] operators and general aviation aircraft resulting in 221 fatalities.” Costello has proposed legislation in H.R.3371, the “Airline Safety and Improvement Act of 2009,” that would require the FAA to change Part 61 pilot certification regulations to ensure that applicants for airline transport pilot (ATP) certificates “have received flight training, academic training or operational experience that will prepare a pilot, at a minimum...to function effectively in adverse weather conditions, including icing conditions.”
