Father of Lorin Maurer - Passenger 3A on Continental Flight 3407On February 12, 2009 at approximately 10:17PM the world as I knew it was
turned completely upside down when Continental Flight 3407 plummeted to the
ground and 51 lives were lost. When something so horrific happens to a
family you can either withdraw, get mad, or try to make something positive
from a bad situation. Such has been the effort of the Families of 3407.
Many of us have experienced much sadness and anger. These emotions are
natural to all of us. But in the end it is our desire that our Loved Ones
be honored by bringing about change so that no other family will experience
a loss like ours due to the shortcomings uncovered in Regional Airline
safety. The Frontline story features many of these shortcomings in a way
that all of us can relate. There is no political spin or corporate cover,
just ordinary people telling it like it is.
Following the accident last year I have interviewed countless numbers of
pilots of both the Major airlines as well as the Regionals. In
overwhelming response these people advise me of the very issues and
concerns that Frontline has brought to light in their feature report. Low
wages, fatigue, limited training, and pushing pilots beyond their current
competencies are all source issues involved in our accident. Sadly these
same issues have been reported as issues in previous accidents but without
effective corrective actions by either the Airlines or the FAA.
As a family member who lost a Loved One I hope that my participation in
this roundtable can add the human perspective of the passenger. People buy
plane tickets to get from point "A" to point "B". They do so with the
complete belief that flying is SAFE because there are folks out there
watching out for us. Again sadly we find that the push for profits is
putting us at risk and taking unfair advantage of pilots and crew members
who have a passion for a career in Aviation.