Lost in the high-profile incompetence and cronyism of the Trump era are the numerous smaller efforts to weaken regulations throughout the government, often in small ways that may not get much attention until the inevitable day that something terrible happens and we all wonder where the old rules preventing those things flew off to.
A Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) panel recommended last week that the government cut back dozens of aviation regulations, while a top Senate Republican is leading a charge to ease pilot training requirements. The industry has long pushed for some of the rule changes.
That "top Senate Republican" is John Thune, who wants would-be pilots to be able to include some forms of ground training as part of the 1,500 hour flight time required of new commercial airline pilots. That 1,500 flight hours requirement was written into the law after a deadly 2009 crash in New York.
As is usual at this point, the two sides in the debate are precisely the ones you would expect. The airline industry wants the requirements for new pilots to be cut back, citing a pilot shortage. The pilots themselves do not want the requirements cut back, citing safety concerns. The "shortage" would likely resolve itself quickly if airlines stopped treating their pilots like sh-t and gave them a salary commensurate to their duties, but since that's right out they insist that what's really needed here is to loosen the requirements for new pilots so that airlines can hire less experienced individuals.
Whether this is a good idea or a bad idea, therefore, depends on who you believe.
Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and other lawmakers threatened to block the FAA bill, which is needed to keep the agency running, if the pilot training language was included.
“There is a reason pilots often say FAA regulations are written in blood — if a pilot isn’t fully prepared to handle any unexpected weather or flying condition, human lives may be in jeopardy,” said Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.).
EPA regulations, FAA regulations, you name it; if an industry wants something, you can bet that Republicans will discover that they want that exact same thing. Except health care, of course—Republicans don't give a damn what the healthcare industry thinks. Which is odd, but here we are.