ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1995, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, December 15, 1995 TAG: 9512150071
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-15 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SMALL COMMUTER airlines have 15 months to update pretty much everything from radar to pilot training. New FAA standards mean to unify standards for regional and national passenger carriers.
Tougher safety, training and equipment rules were imposed on the nation's regional and commuter airlines Thursday, and the carriers were given 15 months to comply.
Regulations now covering major carriers, those with 30 or more seats, were extended to scheduled flights on planes with as few as 10 seats under new Federal Aviation Administration regulations.
``We owe this to the American public: Total confidence that when you buy an airline ticket, every flight is as safe as the next,'' Transportation Secretary Federico Pena said.
The changes are estimated to cost the airline industry about $75 million, equal to 62 cents per ticket sold, the agency said.
Under the new rules:
Smaller planes must carry additional equipment, such as airborne weather radar, wing ice-warning lights, portable oxygen, a third altitude indicator, a sound warning on the landing gear and other items.
Mandatory pilot retirement at age 60 would be extended from major airlines to all carriers. The approximately 200 regional pilots over age 60 would be given a four-year window of continued eligibility.
Training requirements for all pilots would be increased, including additional use of flight simulators.
Smaller airlines must add an official with the sole duty of supervising safety efforts.
They would also have to provide certified flight dispatchers, and new training was specified for all dispatchers.
Flight attendants will be required on planes seating 20 or more passengers.
The 10-to 19-seat planes were given a few exemptions from the large-craft rules. For example, they will not have to have flight attendants, floor lighting or cockpit doors.
The new rules also require that all commercial aircraft meet the same performance standards for certification, though older 10- to 19-seat planes were given a 15-year phase-in period.
The FAA also said it is developing a set of new standards for crew flight and duty time to be instituted later.
The proposal calls for reducing maximum crew duty time from 16 hours to 14 hours, including up to 10 flight hours. Mandatory rest periods would be extended.
The Regional Airline Association and Air Line Pilots Association both endorsed the new regulations, but the National Air Transportation Association said it was concerned about the cost to smaller carriers.
``This rule will cause extreme financial burdens on what are mostly small aviation businesses,'' James Coyne, president of NATA, said in a statement.
About 125 regional airlines fly 2,100 planes in the United States, Coleman said. The rule changes will affect about 1,100 planes, he estimated.
Many smaller carriers, including those serving Delta, American and Northwest airlines with connecting flights, already meet the same standards as the major airlines.
The National Transportation Safety Board recommended tightening the rules for smaller planes on Nov. 15, 1994. The recommendation followed a nine-month investigation into commuter airline safety, prompted by deadly crashes in Hibbing, Minn., and Columbus, Ohio.
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ROGER HART/Staff. A United Express commuter flightby CNBboards passengers at Roanoke Regional Airport. Recent regulation
changes to improve safety could increase the price of tickets for
such flights.
Associated Press