Senate Democrats are demanding that President Trump’s nominee to serve on a federal safety board clarify his position regarding flight safety rules.

A group of lawmakers, lead by Minority Leader Charles Schumer Chuck SchumerJacobin editor: Primarying Schumer would force him to fight Trump's SCOTUS nominee CNN's Toobin: Democrats are 'wimps' who won't 'have the guts' to add Supreme Court seats Republican senator says plans to confirm justice before election 'completely consistent with the precedent' MORE (D-N.Y.), have asked Bruce Landsberg to explain a string of critical statements that he made regarding the 1,500-hour training requirement for commercial airline pilots.

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Landsberg, who Trump nominated to be a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) member, is scheduled to testify in front of the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday.

At issue is a law that requires co-pilots to have 1,500 hours of flight training experience under their belt before they can get a license to fly commercial passenger airliners. Congress implemented the rule after a deadly 2009 Colgan Air crash in New York, in which pilot error was to blame.

But regional airlines have long been pushing back against the tougher training standards, which they say are fueling a pilot shortage. There has also been an effort in the Senate to ease the training requirements in a long-term aviation bill.

Landsberg, who worked for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, wrote an article in 2012 suggesting that there are “better ways” to address the Colgan crash. He also called the flight training requirements a “non-issue.”

Senate Democrats are now asking him to clarify his position on the law. Lawmakers also want to know whether Landsberg is committed to upholding the training standards, if he is confirmed.

“These comments are particularly concerning to us because they seem to suggest that you do not support the current law," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to Landsberg. "The United States traveling public deserve the highest integrity and objectivity when NTSB determines an accident’s probable cause and then issues safety judgments and recommendations.”

“We plan to continue to hold NTSB accountable for delivering on this responsibility,” they added.

Supporters of the flight-training rule have been increasingly worried that the requirements could get scaled back under the Trump administration.

The Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee approved a report in September recommending that the Trump administration roll back or ease dozens of safety rules, including the 1,500-hour rule.

Sen. John Thune John Randolph ThuneGraham: GOP will confirm Trump's Supreme Court nominee before the election Tumultuous court battle upends fight for Senate What Senate Republicans have said about election-year Supreme Court vacancies MORE (R-S.D.), chairman of the Transportation Committee, also included language in an FAA bill this year to allow pilots to receive training credit through alternative means, such as academic training as opposed to flight hours, as long as the FAA deemed it to be safe.

The bill was approved by committee, but has not yet been scheduled for a floor vote.

Lawmakers including Schumer have vowed to block the bill if it contains Thune’s pilot training provision.

Thune promised to work on compromise language with Democrats. So far, however, no deal has been made.