The Federal Aviation Administration announced Wednesday a new rule that requires co-pilots to increase training hours in light of recent plane-crash fatalities.
Co-pilots, also known as first officers, are now required 1,500 hours of flight time experience to be certified to fly commercial and cargo airlines, the same amount that pilots are required. Previously, co-pilots were only required 250 hours. Pilots are now required to have 50 hours of multi-engine flight experience in addition to their initial requirements.
This new rule has stemmed from investigations into the Colgan Air flight 3407 crash in Feb. 2009 near Buffalo, New York that killed 50 people. The National Transportation Safety Board found that the pilots on the flight made crucial mistakes while flying through a snowstorm that may have caused the crash. This rule also comes soon after the Asiana Airlines crash, where inexperienced pilots may have been the problem yet again.
According to Global Post the pilot of Asiana Airlines flight 214, Lee Gang-guk, was only halfway through his training to fly that particular model. After investigations into these two disasters, Congress asked the FAA to require stricter rules for the training of pilots and co-pilots.
The only exceptions to the rule to obtain co-pilot certificates are military pilots who have flown at least 750 hours, graduates of four-year colleges with aviation degrees who have flown at least 1,000 hours, and graduates of two-year colleges with aviation degrees who have flown at least 1,250 hours.
USA Today reports that many are pleased with the new requirements. Anthony Foxx, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, said,
“We owe it to the traveling public to have only the most qualified and best trained pilots.”