I don't ever, in a hearing want to suggest to the American people that when they get on an airplane they are in any way unsafe.
Of course, it's legal by the current FARs. It's not safe and we need to change it.
I think this panel demonstrates the breadth of the issues one has to consider.
The one thing we do need to get rid of in this industry is the statement, well, it's legal, the FAA says it's legal, therefore it must be sa...
There are occasions when I wonder whether there are certain kinds of flights in which there is substantially less experience in the cockpit.
But as I said earlier, we're going to hold a hearing on safety, I want to do that very soon, which will include some of these issues.
We ought to get about the business of modernizing the Air Traffic Control System.
This just isn't one of them, this issue of trying to get our share of international tourism.
I have sometimes described dealing with the BIA very much like walking through wet cement.
I think with the nomination of Larry Echo Hawk, we have the chance to get this right.
I had a chance to meet with Mr. Echo Hawk yesterday and we talked about a whole series of issues critically important in Indian Country.
I have that kind of confidence.
I think it is disgraceful, four of eight years.
We need a BIA that works.
That is just a tragic failure.
I want to state at the start of this hearing my strong support for Mr. Echo Hawk's nomination.
I want the BIA to work. I want it to work well for the benefit of the first Americans, American Indians.
The question is not 'whether,' it is 'how' do we address it?
