[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 114 (Friday, July 30, 2010)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1510-E1511]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




  AIRLINE SAFETY AND FEDERAL AVIATION ADMINISTRATION EXTENSION ACT OF 
                                  2010

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                           HON. EARL POMEROY

                            of north dakota

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, July 29, 2010

  Mr. POMEROY. Madam Speaker, I rise today to express my concerns with 
certain provisions of H.R. 5900, the Airline Safety and FAA Extension 
Act.
  While I strongly support the goals of the airline safety portions of 
the bill, I continue to have concerns regarding the practical effect of 
the provision requiring a minimum of 1,500 hours of training for an 
airline transport pilot certificate. As we work to improve the safety

[[Page E1511]]

of airline service it is important that new training requirements have 
their desired effect of improving safety while avoiding any unintended 
consequences that may decrease the number of skilled pilots.
  Specifically it is my concern that students looking to get their 
pilots license could be forced by financial considerations to attend 
pilot training programs with an emphasis of meeting the flight hour 
requirements inexpensively by flying straight and level courses without 
mastering important safety skills.
  I support provisions that specify that certain academic training 
courses can be credited towards the total number of flight hours 
required by this Act. I believe that this language should be further 
improved through the normal legislative process to ensure that high-
quality outcome orientated training programs are given more credit 
towards this requirement than other programs.
  While I will be voting in favor of this legislation in order to 
ensure that funding for Federal Aviation Administration, FAA programs 
that support aviation operations in North Dakota do not lapse, I 
believe it is important that new safety requirements are appropriately 
constructed to recognize the tremendous benefits that our nation's 
accredited flight schools provide.

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