THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 9, 1995 TAG: 9501090067
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY STEVE STONE, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 168 lines
If they had their way, some air travelers would skip the puddle jumpers.
``They are cramped and noisy, and they just don't feel as safe,'' Roberta Riddick of Norfolk said recently of flying in small commuter aircraft like those involved in recent crashes.
``Small planes just make you a little nervous,'' said Stephen Ornelas, 18, a Marine stationed in Norfolk. ``They get beat up more in the air by the air currents.''
Public anxiety about taking to the skies is understandable. In the year just ended, there were five major air crashes in the U.S. which claimed 257 lives - more fatalities than in any year since 1987.
Three of those accidents involved prop-driven, short-range commuter aircraft, and killed 88 people.
While more familiar-sounding jets like the Boeing 737 are the workhorses of American aviation, commuters are the pack mules linking smaller communities.
``They are essential,'' said Wayne Shank, manager of Norfolk International where, each day, about one of every four commercial passenger aircraft that takes off is a commuter. They carry about 10 percent of the airport's passengers.
On any given day, more than 8,200 scheduled commuter flights take to the air nationally carrying more than 123,000 passengers, according to the FAA.
Commuter flights also give people more flexible service - through the variety of flight times - said Paul Turk, director of media relations for USAir Express.
But, ultimately, major carriers are tending to the bottom line when they rely on commuter airlines.
``There are a lot of markets the major carriers could not afford to serve without commuter aircraft,'' Shank said. ``You don't fly a 130-seat jet with 30 passengers. If you do, you won't be flying very long.''
Passengers, too, are interested in finances. But they'd also like to arrive alive. The overall record for American commuter aviation is strong, however, say federal officials.
``Accident rates have improved steadily over the past 30 years,'' the National Transportation Safety Board said in a statement issued after the latest crashes, ``and we have no reason to believe that experience is changing.''
In the past decade, the accident rate for commuter airlines was 0.37 per 100,000 departures. For the major carriers, the rate was 0.29. In other words, among commuter airlines, there was only one accident for every 270,000 takeoffs. For the major carriers, there was one accident for every 345,000 takeoffs.
In 1993, just 16 of 3,144,000 commuter airline departures ended in an accident. Four involved fatalities, claiming 24 lives.
``Gone are the days of the weather helmets and goggles. The aircraft we fly cost $7 million to $15 million - they are not cheap to come by - and that's because they are sophisticated airplanes,'' said Barry Beneski, spokesman for Atlantic Coast Airlines, a Virginia-based commuter carrier that operates as United Express.
``As a group, the safety record of commuter airlines virtually matches that of the major carriers,'' Beneski said. ``Our first priority is safety. And I say that confidently for our competitors.''
Ironically, it's because air travel is getting safer that crashes get so much attention. They have, in essence, become rare events.
As technology has produced bigger and sleeker jetliners, the public's perception of safety aboard smaller aircraft has fallen.
``There is still not, in our minds, a reason to be concerned,'' said Kurt Zorn, an Indiana University professor and co-author of the 1988 book, ``Why Airplanes Crash.''
``People get on these smaller planes. . . and you can sometimes look over the shoulder of the pilot,'' Zorn said. Many air travelers are not accustomed to that.
In bigger jets flying at 30,000 feet, ``there's not nearly as much risk,'' he said.
In contrast, ``Commuter aircraft spend most of their time either landing or taking off,'' the most dangerous phases of flight, Zorn said. Plus, ``You don't fly as high so it's more difficult to get out of turbulent weather. . . you feel the ride more and some people don't want to feel the ride. They want to be in a cocoon up there.''
Though he stands by turboprops' safety, he supports tightening safety standards for commuters. The FAA is moving to standardize rules for training, maintenance and operation of commuters, bringing them in line with rules governing the major carriers.
``Higher standards seem to be in order,'' Zorn said. But he doesn't know that much will change, at least measurably, because the difference in safety performance is already so small.
Commuter airlines have been the fastest-growing segment of the airline industry in recent years, picking up routes abandoned by jet carriers as unprofitable.
The rules governing commuter airlines have not changed, however. Smaller aircraft carrying 10 to 30 passengers are covered by Part 135 of the FAA regulations; larger aircraft seating more than 30 people operate under Part 121 rules.
Commuter pilots are allowed to fly 120 hours a month, compared with a maximum of 100 for jet pilots. And training and maintenance requirements on commuters are not as stringent - though the FAA insists they are safe.
Transportation Secretary Federico F. Pena has given commuter airlines until February to make whatever changes necessary to meet the same safety and operational standards as those applied to the major airlines.
That will cost money.
``Ultimately, the passenger pays,'' said Debby McElroy, spokeswoman for the 130-member Regional Airline Association in Washington. ``Carriers will have to pass on those costs.''
McElroy said she doesn't agree with criticism that differences in the rules mean commuter pilots are overworked. ``It's true that we make more departures; we make more takeoffs and landings,'' she said. ``But pilots like to fly.''
McElroy said the average length of a flight for major airlines is 600 to 700 miles while, for commuters, it's 250 to 300 miles.
Still, regional carriers support establishing a single safety standard for all scheduled airlines, McElroy said. ``If there is a safety benefit, then the regulations need to be changed,'' she said.
Revised rules will have little impact on flights in Norfolk, however. Commuter carriers operating here say they are already either operating under the more demanding standards or very close to them.
If people are concerned about flying on a smaller aircraft, they should not hesitate to say so, travel agents and airline officials say.
``If someone comes out to the airport and they are not confident, the airlines are very accommodating,'' said Margaret Allen, a regional manager for the SATO Travel office at the Norfolk Naval Base. ``They'll change flights for them.''
If they can.
``Unfortunately, sometimes, they don't have too many choices,'' said John Gelardi, president of Travel Merchants Inc. in Virginia Beach. Many smaller communities are served only by commuter aircraft.
Many of Virginia's airports are among those served only by commuters. Among the major carriers is Atlantic Coast Airlines, operating as United Express.
ACA, with 1,300 employees, is based in Sterling and operates more than 60 flights a day in Virginia. From Norfolk, eight flights daily head to Dulles International.
``We'll carry about 1.7 million customers this year'' nationally, Beneski, the airline's spokesman, said.
ACA operates under both sets of FAA standards because of the variety of aircraft it uses. ``But we operate very close to 121 standards already,'' Beneski said. ``Our pilots train, regardless of aircraft types, to the same standards.''
So tighter federal requirements ``won't affect us in any real substantial way because we're pretty much already there,'' Beneski said.
``A lot of our business is business people who fly a lot and are a lot more aware of how airlines work,'' Beneski said. But ``we also understand that some passengers go to the airport looking to get on a jet.''
When they find they are on a smaller aircraft, Beneski said, ``We understand that there is some anxiety.'' They should remember that ``safety is absolutely, from top to bottom, our top priority.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff graphic
Source: Jane's All the World's Aircraft
Commuter Planes
Types of Planes
NTSB Safety Record
Since 1983
Since 1986
Since 1985
Airline Flights Out of Norfolk International Airport
[List of flights out of Norfolk]
Staff graphic by Steve Stone
Commuting the Airways through Norfolk
[Information box] by Steve Stone
WHEN ONLY BIGGER WILL DO
KEYWORDS: COMMUTER PLANES ACCIDENTS STATISTICS by CNB