Low Wages May Have Added To Fatigue In Affecting Pilots Of Buffalo Plane Crash

May 14, 2009 11:36 a.m. EST

Wasington, D.C. (AHN) - The first officer who co-piloted the Continental Airlines Flight 3407 that crashed in Buffalo earlier this year was earning just a little over minimum wage and briefly took a side job in a cafe. The level of compensation, revealed during public hearings, may have combined with exhaustion of both pilots who responded the wrong way just before impact.

Rebecca Shaw, 24, had an annual salary of $16,000 at Colgan Air, the operator of the Bombardier Dash 8-Q400 twin-engine turboprop that crashed on Feb. 12. She was living with her parents in Seattle, and had to commute regularly to stay at Colgan.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Thursday held the final day of a three-day public hearing on the accident, which killed all 49 people on the plane and another on the ground.

Investigators revealed that before the crash, Shaw "commuted through the night" from Seattle to Newark, from which flight 3407 departed the next day. She sent "multiple texts" throughout the day of the crash, indicating that she may have not had adequate rest.

Shaw, who received her commercial pilot license in 2005 and was hired by Colgan in January 2008, was also captured on the plane's flight recorder admitting that she had "never seen icing conditions. I've never de-iced. ... I've never experienced any of that."

She added, "I don't want to have to experience that and make those kinds of calls. You know I'd've freaked out. I'd have, like, seen this much ice and thought, oh my gosh we were going to crash.' "

The transcripts of the recordings showed her joking with her captain, Marvin Renslow, in violation of federal rules against non-essential conversation when a plane is below 10,000 feet. The rules aim to keep pilots focused on flying the plane at critical moments, such as landing.

The recordings were disturbing that most networks reporting on the NTSB hearings did not play them for viewers, but had reporters and anchors read the transcripts.

Much focus has been devoted to the captain of the plane, 47-year-old Renslow, who had failed several competency tests conducted by the Federal Aviation Administration and then lied about these tests on his application to Colgan Air. He received his commercial pilot license in 2002 and was hired by Colgan in September 2005.

Renslaw had responded to Shaw's remarks about icing conditions by saying he was "now more comfortable" with his ability to respond to such conditions. But three minutes later he reacted the wrong way to a warning system called a stick shaker that switches off autopilot and alerts the pilot that the plane is about to stall.

Instead of increasing speed and keeping the plane's nose down, the captain had raised the nose up and slowed down, causing the plane to roll and continue to lose speed.

Colgan has issued a statement refuting reports that Renslaw had not been trained to use the stick shaker.

"Captain Renslow and First Officer Shaw had thorough initial and recurrent training on how to recognize an impending stall situation through the stick shaker and how to recognize the aircraft's response to a possible stall. This training is consistent with programs and training equipment employed at all major air carriers," the company said.

"Captain Renslow and First Officer Shaw did know what to do, had repeatedly demonstrated they knew what to do, but did not do it. We cannot speculate on why they did not use their training in dealing with the situation they faced," it added.

There have also been questions about the level of rest Renslaw got before the flight. Investigators said he had commuted from Tampa, and had been "seen sleeping in the crew room." He had logged onto CrewTrac, an airline computer system, at 3:00 am and at 7:30 am on the day of the crash.

Colgan has said that if exhaustion had contributed to Renslaw's and Shaw's performance during the flight, it was not due to work schedules of both pilots.

"Colgan's flight crew schedule provided rest periods for each of them that were far in excess of FAA requirements. Captain Renslow had nearly 22 consecutive hours of time off before he reported for duty on the day of the accident. That was nearly three times the FAA-minimum required rest period. Also, First Officer Shaw had been off work for three days since her last flight," it said.

Capt. Rory Kay, safety chairman for the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), the world's largest pilots union, said during Thursday's hearing commuting is not uncommon but said that pilots are responsible for ensuring that their schedule gives them appropriate time to rest.

He also added that ALPA has been trying educating members on how to recognize symptoms of fatigue, citing a website launched, white papers issued, and a symposium recently held by the union.

Asked about a proposal to use the voice recorder to enforce the rule against non-essential discussions by pilots in the cockpit, he said, "The intent of the cockpit voice recorder is accident investigation, and I think it should remain as a sacred cow for that. It should not be pulled out for regular monitoring."