Byron Dorgan

You make mistakes when you are either ill trained or when you are tired. You make mistakes.

Is there one level of safety? I think there's supposed to be, right, dating back to the 1990s?

The carriers--the major carriers themselves have their own routine and their own procedures for training and a range of other employee practices.

That also is stunning to me, because those airplanes are flying with Continental's name on it.

The major carrier, in most cases, does not have responsibility for, or liability for, the regional carrier.

Is that a dispatcher from this company?

Have you evaluated whether that is a unique condition, again, to this particular carrier in this circumstance, or is this something that may be a problem across commuter carriers?

Well, your recommendations say, 'Stick-pusher training was not consistently provided to pilots of the Q-400s, nor was it required by the FAA.'

How prevalent is it to find people spending all night in a crew room, without a bed, before a flight?

And it seems to me to be pretty persuasive evidence that you've got to make things happen.

I was stunned that you have eight commercial air carriers that are--that were, last summer, picking up passengers and flying passengers around the country, that would have had no remedial training program for pilots, of any type.

I was stunned that...

Pilot error. That would suggest that something happened in a moment in that cockpit that caused that accident.

So, a minimum of 1500 hours. All right.

I understand that, but I'm talking about experience in the air. There's no--I've been in the simulator--there's no ice in the simulator.

Has that been remedied?

So, then the question is--then the question is, not just a new rule, although a new rule is probably reasonable, but, How do we enforce rules?

But let me ask you whether you think that this is a reasonable concern.

But, let me put up--these are the Colgan air pilots commuting to the Newark base.

I think that relates more to a workday period.

It has become clear to me that Congress and the industry needs to take major steps to ensure that there is indeed one level of safety throughout the entire commercial aviation industry.

And that's the 250 hours.

So, this issue was contracted out by Colgan to a contractor, and Colgan did not oversee the contractor properly, you're saying?

But, I'm talking--did this pilot have adequate training on--you know, look, in the first 10 hours of instruction, when you want to get a pilot's license, you learn what a stall is and how to recover from it.

Shouldn't we assume that's a problem?