John A. Boccieri: “There's an adage that we often say in aviation, that you train like you fly, and you fly as you train. And aviators know…”

“There's an adage that we often say in aviation, that you train like you fly, and you fly as you train. And aviators know that the practice that we do prepares us for situations where we find ourselves in compromised circumstances. And we know that the training that we do prepares us for those emergencies. But you could take the most experienced air crew, with thousands of hours, hundreds of thousands of hours, put them in an air frame, and if they're not trained in the safety equipment of that aircraft, they will not know how to recover. And while this accident in February was completely tragic, I'm sad to say that it was completely avoidable if we would have only taken the leadership as we are doing today. When I reviewed the NTSB's reports, and I found that those pilots were not trained in the safety equipment on their aircraft, I was aghast. I was aghast that the Q400 check pilots that were interviewed, their demonstration or instruction of the aircraft pusher system is not part of the training syllabus for initial or recurrent training on the Q400. These pilots and this airline were cutting corners, and now we're paying the price for this. And those families who died are experiencing the grief and tragedy that was completely avoidable.”