‘Miracle on Hudson’ Pilot Pushes More rest for Cargo Crews

Article written by: By @Niels Lesniewski, Roll Call

Flanked by the pilot who successfully landed a commercial airliner on the Hudson River, Sen. Barbara Boxer threatened Tuesday to stall a pending reauthorization of aviation policy over rest-time requirements for cargo pilots.

“We just need a vote on this, and you know if people want to come down in the well and vote the wrong way on safety, then they have shown themselves to be more concerned with the special economic interests, frankly, than the lives of the people that are being put at risk,” Boxer said. “I’m going to use every tool at my disposal to take to the floor, and I hope others will join me.”

Boxer, a California Democrat, has filed her legislation as an amendment to the Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization that’s on the Senate floor.

“Let me be very direct: Fatigue is a killer,” said Chesley B. “Sully” Sullenberger, whose successful 2009 water landing of a disabled US Airways jetliner in New York was dubbed the “Miracle on the Hudson.” “It’s a ruthless indiscriminate killer that our industry and our regulators have allowed to continue killing for way too long.”

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