I haven't seen any mention of the cause of the Buffalo plane crash this past Winter

[Stinky The Clown]

How does a guy like this get to fly passengers?

He failed six check flights.

He failed some tests.

He never completed training on how to respond to what it turns out was a fairly common emergency - a stall. he pulled the stick back when he should have pushed it forward. The stick intentionally rattles hard in the pilot's hand as a warning.

I blame the airline for this.

How do they allow this guy to fly passengers?

And how does the FAA allow it? Or maybe better said, how is it that such incompetence can get past the FAA's systems?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/5309116/Buffalo-plane-crash-pilot-had-failed-numerous-tests.html

on edit .... the cause of the crash was announced today.

[Elwood P Dowd]

1. Thom Hartmann was talking about that today.

Pathetic isn't it.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

2. What I know of Colgan Air, I'd avoid it.

"The Journal said that Capt Renslow, 47, who joined Colgan Air in September 2005, had a history of failing periodic tests of competency."

"As the plane made its approach towards Buffalo with the autopilot engaged, the crew exchanged idle banter, which is prohibited by federal rules on flights flying below 10,000 feet."

I've done some Facebook trolling of Colgan employees (started with an acquaintance), and let's just say I'm not impressed. The stupidity posted to Facebook, however, is quite impressive. There are a slew of pics of various crew talking on cell phones, texting, and playing with cameras while in the cockpit. They post about how hard they partied, only to be flying the next day. I was a major "partier" at one time too, but I wasn't flying airplanes.

[Old and In the Way]

3. I think there will be reprucussions.

I think he only recently became an ATP pilot and didn't have a lot of flying time in the aircract that he was pilot-in-command. These small regional feeders are under financial pressure to reduce costs...I wonder if that may have contributed to hiring less experienced pilots with less than stellar resumes? "Ask the Pilot" at Salon.com had a good write up on this tragedy.

[Stinky The Clown]

5. I'm betting Colgan goes the way of Air Florida and ValuJet

They sure as shit don't appear to be worthy of staying in the business of flying passengers.

[Muttocracy]

4. I heard a little on the radio today about too much chatter in the cockpit

More coverage in Buffalo News:
http://www.buffalonews.com/home/story/667926.html

[AdHocSolver]

6. The FAA has been "privatized" since Reagan fired the air traffic controllers in the 1980's.

The pilot of that plane should not have been allowed to fly passengers.

From the Buffalo News online article of Tuesday, May 12, 2009:

(snip)
..........
Renslow, 47, failed three Federal Aviation Administration proficiency checks before joining Colgan in 2005, sources confirmed this morning.

While pilots often fail those tests once or twice, "it is fairly uncommon to fail three," said a source with knowledge of the safety board investigation of the crash. "That's a little high. But then, why did they hire him?"
..........

My guess is that they hired this guy for the same reason that corporations prefer H1-B visa holders or illegal immigrants -- They work cheaply and don't dare question corporate policy at the risk of losing their jobs.

The airlines also offshore their airplane maintenance to places like El Salvador where FAA inspectors (that is, the few that still have jobs since Bush and company "defunded" the FAA) can't go to inspect the quality of repairs.

(snip)
..........
... And sources close to the investigation said the hearings are likely to point fingers not just at Renslow's abilities as a pilot, but also Colgan's training program.
..........

I should hope that the company would be investigated. The company determines who flies their aircraft. There surely must have been more competent pilots who applied for the job.

If the NTSB tries to whitewash the company's responsibility for this accident, then the victims families ought to consider a class action law suit.

[Liberal_in_LA]

7. NPR reported on this today