Story ID: 
Flashback: Pilot reaction eyed in Q400 crash
By: Curt Epstein
Caption: We look back at some memorable events and coverage from AIN's half-century-old archives.
Word Count: 305
With AIN Media Group's Aviation International News and its predecessor Aviation Convention News celebrating the company's 50th year of continuous publication this year, AIN’s editorial staff is going back through the archives each month to bring readers some interesting events that were covered over the past half-century.

REWIND (MARCH 2009): NTSB investigators have turned their attention to "human action" and pilot training in the crash of a Colgan Air Q400 outside Buffalo on February 12, according to a safety board spokesman. At issue appears to be the reaction of the captain to a stick-stick pusher activation, which, if improperly executed, could explain the sudden pitch up that began the upset. An NTSB spokesman told AIN that investigators hadn’t determined whether pilot action resulted in the 31-degree upward pitch, however. Earlier during the flight, the crew had observed “significant” ice accretion on the windows and wings before the eventual upset that killed all 49 on board, and one on the ground.

FAST-FORWARD: The Colgan Q400 crash, the last in a series of fatal airliner crashes in a six-year span, served as a springboard for the introduction of more stringent pilot-training requirements, qualifications, and experience for Part 121 airline operations under the Airline Safety Act of 2010. The regulations which took effect in 2013, require airline pilots, including first officers, to hold an Airline Transport Pilot certificate with at least 1,500 hours total time as a pilot (a standard that both of the cabin crew of Colgan/Continental Express Flight 3407 exceeded at the time of the crash). The FAA also mandated that airlines provide additional training on upset prevention and recovery. As well, the media focus on the generally inadequate wages traditionally paid to regional airline first officers, along with the then pilot shortage led carriers to begin offering their newest cockpit crewmembers more livable salaries.