Summary: Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) commuter airline pilot training regulations, specifically: (1) changes in the commuter airline industry; (2) commuter and major airline pilot training regulatory requirements; and (3) commuter airline accident reports and statistics.
GAO found that: (1) commuter airlines are flying more passengers, on more routes, in larger, more complex planes, but have been losing experienced pilots to major airlines; (2) copilots are often upgraded to captain more rapidly than in the past, allowing less time for them to accumulate experience; (3) commuter and major airline pilot training regulations are similar, except that the commuter regulations do not specify required minimum training hours or flight training requirements; (4) accident investigation statistics showed that pilots were a factor in 57 percent of commuter airline accidents between 1980 and 1984 and 95 percent in 1985; and (5) recent accident investigations cited problems with cockpit resource management, including crew coordination, standard operating procedures, and pilot decisionmaking, rather than the pilots' flying ability or equipment problems.
