FAA unveils pilot training to avoid stalling airliners

Bart Jansen | USA TODAY

The Federal Aviation Administration announced a rule Tuesday to require more training for commercial pilots to avoid and recover from stalls that can lead to crashes.

The rule grew out of the Colgan Air 3407 crash in February 2009, which killed 50 people. The pilots in that crash continued to pull up too much on the nose of the plane while preparing to land in a snowstorm near Buffalo, which allowed the plane to plummet to the ground.

The rule is projected to cost airlines $274 million to $354 million to implement from 2019 to 2028, according to the FAA. But airlines will also save $689 million by preventing or mitigating crashes that result from the rare problem, according to the agency.

Although the rule took nearly five years to develop, FAA Administrator Michael Huerta said it was the biggest update in pilot training in 20 years. This is the third major FAA rule to grow out of the Colgan crash — after requiring pilots get more rest between shifts and boosting minimum training for co-pilots — and Huerta said this training overhaul was complicated and required a lot of work.

"It's been a very large effort at the FAA for a very long time," Huerta said. "It's a huge advance for aviation safety."

Huerta said the pivotal rule would give the country the most advanced training. The rule requires within five years:

• Better ground and flight training that enables pilots to prevent and recover from stalls.

• Training for pilots to better monitor the performance of each other.

• Enhanced runway safety procedures.

• Expanded crosswind training.

Huerta said he also planned to meet Nov. 21 with airline safety leaders to develop voluntary training for pilots beyond what the rule requires.

"Today's rule is a significant advancement for aviation safety and U.S. pilot training," Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said.

Mary Ellen Mellett, whose 34-year-old son Coleman, of East Brunswick, N.J., a jazz musician who died in the crash, said the rule met expectations of families who appreciated the agency's work.

"This is a bright and shining day for us," Mellett said through tears. "The airline industry will be better for it."

Capt. Lee Moak, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, a union representing 50,000 pilots, hailed the rule as "another step forward in making a safe industry even safer."

"The training mandated by these rules has very accurately addressed factors that have been identified in a number of accidents," Moak said.

The industry group Airlines for America, which represents the largest airlines, said the safety of passengers and crews is their No. 1 priority, and that the group "will work collaboratively with the FAA to implement the rule and ensure we continue to have the best trained pilots, who help maintain the safest aviation system in the world."

Roger Cohen, president of the Regional Airline Association, said the rule underscores how the airline industry operates under a single level of safety.

"This is a good example where rulemaking has moved to catch up to the continually improving safety practices in place today at many airlines," Cohen said.

The need for better stall training has long been known. Earl Weener, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board, which investigates accidents such as Colgan, told 300 aviation safety officials at a conference Oct. 29 that better training is needed.

Weener cited four fatal crashes in the last two decades where pilots continued to pull up on their controls too much until the aircraft crashed, rather than leveling off to regain power and speed. Those crashes were Colgan, Air France 447 in June 2009, Pinnacle Airlines 3701 in October 2004 and USAir 427 in September 1994. In the Air France and Pinnacle crashes, the planes plummeted several minutes from tens of thousands of feet in the middle of flights, rather than near the landing.

A NASA study of voluntary reporting by pilots found 28% of stalls occur while cruising at high altitude, Weener said.

But a survey found only 26% of airlines trained for high-altitude stalls – even though 71% of stalls occur when the autopilot is typically engaged, Weener said.