No Coincidence

Two regional jet crashes, 2-1/2 years apart, both killing all passengers. Both the worst catastrophe in the history of the respective airports. The first early on a brilliant summer day in the heart of Bluegrass horse country. The second late on an icy winter night in the crowded suburbs of the industrial north.

Both brought down by pilot error.

The Herald-Leader, two weeks ago:

Pilot negligence was a "substantial factor" in the crash of Comair Flight 5191 in Lexington in August 2006, U.S. District Senior Judge Karl Forester has ruled. (cached article here.)

And this week from the Buffalo News, a detailed special report:

On Thursday, Feb. 12, 2009 at 10:20 p.m., Continental flight 3407, en route from Newark, N.J., spun from the sky and crashed into a home as it made its approach to Buffalo Niagara International Airport. All 49 people on board the plane were killed, as was one man in the house in Clarence Center. It was the worst aviation accident in Western New York history.

The months-long investigation by Tom Precious and Jerry Zremski of the Buffalo News finds that poor piloting on regional airlines is the completely predictable consequence of deliberate policies on the part of airlines to cut costs.

Click here for links to the stories below.

Part One: Who's flying your airplane?

You are sitting in a 50-seat propeller plane heading home to Buffalo, and out the window you see ice on the wings. Ten rows in front of you, someone else also may be encountering mid-air icing for the first time: Your co-pilot.

Part Two: The pilot system error

When pilot Marvin Renslow flipped on the autopilot less than four minutes after Continental Connection Flight 3407 left Newark airport on a wintry night last February, he said something thousands of pilots around the world repeat every day: "Autopilot's engaged."

Part Three: Top Guns give way to insta-pilots

Paul Onorato’s pilot training occurred up in the skies, where he learned how to recover from dangerous stalls and handle high G-force pressures while pulling out of a spin or righting a plane that suddenly flipped on its side and then upsidedown. He learned with no passengers in sight.

Part Four: Building a better pilot

WASHINGTON — The federal rules governing pilot training are, in the words of one expert, “written in blood” — and the Federal Aviation Administration agrees.

Regional airlines enjoy profits while majors post losses

Could regional airlines afford better pilot training?

Good training can develop useful stick-and-rudder skills

To experience airmanship skills, fly with a veteran pilot in an aerobatic plane doing maneuvers the typical airline pilot never experiences—from dives and high G-force moves to a white-knuckle touch-and-go along a tree-lined runway appropriately named Strip-in-the-Woods.

What airline is it, really?

If you ever have arrived at the airport and been surprised to find yourself flying a regional puddle-jumper rather than a jet, you should know there's an easy way to find out for sure who is flying your plane.

Graphic: Pilot Error 2004-08

Graphic: Crashes and near misses: A closer look at regional airline mishaps

Graphic: Pilot error: Regional vs. major airlines

Graphic: Fatal airmanship: Five fatal crashes in which pilots were blamed

Graphic: The vanishing military-trained pilot

Graphic: Diminishing pilot requirements