Expressing condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones of the victims of the crash of Comair Flight 5191, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 980) expressing condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones of the victims of the crash of Comair Flight 5191, and for other purposes.

Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on House Resolution 980.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in very strong support of this resolution today that is being introduced by my good friend and colleague from Kentucky (Mr. Chandler).

This resolution, H. Res. 980, expresses condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones of the victims of the August 27, 2006, aircraft accident of Flight 5191, which took place in Lexington, Kentucky. There were 50 people on board Flight 5191, including passengers and crew, with one individual surviving the crash, Copilot James Polehinke, who is currently recovering, and we wish him Godspeed in his recovery.

Mr. Speaker, I want to say that my heartfelt sympathy goes out to the victims and to each and every one of their families, friends, and loved ones. Losing a loved one is always very tragic, but I think it is compounded when such a loss is the result of an unfortunate and unforeseen situation. I am hopeful that this resolution will in some small way help to comfort the families and friends of all those who lost their lives on Flight 5191.

Mr. Speaker, as Chair of the House Aviation Subcommittee, I want to assure the traveling public and my colleagues that the National Transportation Safety Board is now and will continue to thoroughly investigate every aspect of this accident. Any presumption on the cause or causes of this accident at this stage are purely speculative, and at this time I think it should be definitely left to the professional investigative abilities of the NTSB. It is their responsibility in fact to determine the circumstances and cause, and they will report back to Congress.

I can also assure the families, the public, and Members of Congress that those charged with the investigation of this tragedy will not rest until the cause of this aviation crash has been finally determined.

While even the loss of one life in an aviation accident is unacceptable, the public should know, Members of Congress should know, and those who travel should know that our commercial airlines today are both safe and also reliable. Since 2001, more than 4 billion passengers have flown safely on U.S. commercial airliners with the lowest fatality accident rate in history.

Mr. Speaker, it is important to note that on a typical weekday, just one day like today, there are an average of some 33,000 commercial airline takeoffs and landings at airports of general aviation across the country, and almost all of them, again with large commercial aircraft since November 12, 2001, have done so safely. Despite this amazing safety record, I wish we all lived in a world where we could eliminate all accidents and all risks. While I do not believe that we can do that, I do sincerely believe that we can continue to work together to do everything humanly possible to avoid these types of accidents in the future.

Again, I want to express my heartfelt condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones of the victims on board Flight 5191, also to Mr. Chandler, a good friend and distinguished colleague from Kentucky, and his constituents. He told me he lost a number of personal friends and a large number of constituents in this unfortunate aviation tragedy. Again, my condolences to all affected.

Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, first of all, I want to extend my condolences to all the family, friends and loved ones of those who lost their loved ones on Flight 5191 in Lexington, Kentucky.

I also want to express my condolences to Mr. Chandler. Mr. Chandler is a member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee. I particularly want to again thank him for the way he has handled himself in this matter.

Mr. Chandler has been a spokesperson for those who have lost their loved ones in this tragedy. He has also yielded to appropriate manners of resolution to determine what caused this crash, and I appreciate his leadership on the committee and on this issue.

It is critical that we do find the cause of aviation crashes and incidents and that we take preventative measures, and that is something that has been very much my intention as chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee. In fact, we have changed some procedures to accomplish that goal.

One of the provisions of the law that we changed now requires NTSB to continue corrective measures. In the past the NTSB would investigate these accidents. A recommendation would be made, findings would be made, but they just sort of stayed on the shelf. That is no longer the case. Today recommendations from these accidents are not left on the shelf, where causes and risks would not be addressed. Recommendations now must be followed through and brought back to the Congress and measures taken to correct any of the errors or institute appropriate remedies that are recommended by the NTSB.

Again, I am pleased that Mr. Chandler comes before the House today to remember those lost in this incident and that he has also been supportive of having the NTSB thoroughly investigate this crash. We give assurances to the loved ones and others that due course and due process will be followed and a full review and determination of the cause of this horrible aviation accident and tragedy will be made so that we will know how to prevent similar accidents in the future, and we will be able to correct these deficiencies.

Again, to Mr. Chandler, to all those who suffered loss, we extend our condolences, and I ask the House to concur in adoption of House Resolution 980, sponsored by the gentleman.

Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of H. Res. 980, which formally expresses Congress' condolences to the families and friends of the 49 passengers who perished in the August 27, 2006 crash of Conair Flight 5191 at the Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky.

H. Res. 980 not only expresses the condolences for the lives lost, but also honors those rescue workers and personnel at the crash site, as well as the Federal, State and local officials who worked together to respond to the unfolding tragedy.

While we will not know the probable cause of the Conair crash until the National Transportation Safety Board, NTSB, completes its investigation, serious questions have been raised regarding the Federal Aviation Administration's, FAA, air traffic control staffing policies. The FAA confirmed that the air traffic control tower at the Blue Grass Airport was understaffed at the time of the accident.

Mr. Speaker, air traffic controllers are essential to the safe operation of our nation's air traffic system, and the effectiveness of controllers requires proper staffing levels at each facility.

Inadequate staffing during periods of low traffic is not a new problem. It was reported that in November 2005, an overloaded controller at the Raleigh, North Carolina airport directed two planes too close to one another, and this close call prompted the FAA to issue guidance forbidding air traffic controllers with certain responsibilities from working alone.

After the Lexington accident, the FAA stated that some air traffic control towers responsible for surface traffic also separate airborne aircraft using radar equipment, contrary to FAA guidance to provide individual controllers for the radar and control tower functions. It is not clear whether this guidance is written or verbal. The FAA statement further indicates that this guidance was not followed at the Lexington tower where the manager decided to have one controller handle both functions during the overnight shift. Moreover, further investigation has revealed that the Lexington tower was not an anomaly; other tower managers across the country routinely chose not to staff their towers adequately, and the FAA was either unaware of these deviations or unwilling to crack down until after the Lexington tragedy.

The FAA's inconsistency in applying its own controller staffing policy is very troubling. That is why Representatives Costello, Chandler and I have requested that the Department of Transportation's Inspector General, IG, investigate how widely the staffing experience at the Blue Grass Airport is practiced at other air traffic control facilities across the Nation and determine the extent to which the towers covered by the guidance are complying with it. Importantly, we have requested that the IG investigate the steps that FAA undertook after the Raleigh incident to review staffing at its facilities to determine if the facilities were complying with the guidance, and to require compliance if they were not.

While it will be some time before the NTSB completes its investigation into the probable causes of the Conair Flight 5191 crash, we should waste no time in ensuring that the FAA consistently applies its controller staffing policies across our Nation's air traffic control towers.

Finally, and most importantly, Mr. Speaker, I want to express my condolences to the families and friends of the Flight 5191 passengers, and I urge my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.

Mr. Speaker, I would like to first thank my friend and colleague, the gentleman from Florida (Mr. Mica) for his good wishes and for his efforts as chairman of the Aviation Subcommittee to help with promoting safety in the air throughout this country. I appreciate those efforts very much, and I appreciate his help with this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today with a heavy heart for Kentuckians who have

tragically lost their lives and for loved ones who have been left behind to pick up the pieces.

On August 27, 2006, Comair Flight 5191 crashed upon take off at Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49 of the 50 people aboard. Twenty-eight of the victims lived in the district I represent, and several other passengers were fellow Kentuckians. Fathers and mothers, daughters and sons, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, all perished in the worst plane crash this country has seen since 2001.

The small, close-knit town of Lexington and the surrounding communities of Central Kentucky will forever be changed by the scenes from early that Sunday morning and by the sudden loss of family, friends, neighbors and community leaders. Almost everyone in central Kentucky knew someone on that plane. The loss is a community loss, but also a profoundly personal loss for those of us who remain.

I am here today to honor the victims of this horrible crash by urging this body to pass House Resolution 980, expressing the condolences of this body to all who grieve during this time and commending all of those who responded to this tragedy with courage and determination.

It is also important that today we remember copilot James Polehinke, who was the only person on board who survived the tragedy. He is currently recovering, and we certainly wish him the very best.

Mr. Speaker, I am sure there will come a day when this body will address the causes of this tragedy, particularly if there are measures to be taken to prevent future accidents. At this time, however, the thing we must do is memorialize those that we have lost.

All of Kentucky is still grieving as families continue to say goodbye to loved ones. The following are the victims whose lives were cut short by this horrible tragedy:

Rebecca Adams; Christina Anderson; Lyle Anderson; Arnold Andrews; Anne Marie Bailey; Bobbie Benton; Jesse Clark Benton; Carol Bizzack; George Brunacini; Brian Byrd; Jeffrey Clay; Homer Combs; Diane Combs; Fenton Dawson; Thomas Fahey; Mike Finley; Clarence Wayne ``C.W.'' Fortney, II; Wade Bartley ``Bart'' Frederick; Hollie Gilbert; Erik Harris; Kelly Heyer; Jonathan Hooker; Scarlett Parsley Hooker; Priscilla Johnson; Tetsuya Kono; Nahoko Kono; Charles Lykins; Dan Mallory; Steve McElravy; Linda McKee; Bobby Meaux; Leslie Morris, II; Kaye Craig Morris; Cecile Moscoe; Judy Ann Rains; Michael Ryan; Mary Jane Silas; Pat Smith; Tim Snoddy; Marcie Thomason; Greg Threet; Randy Towles; Larry Turner; Victoria Washington; Jeff Williams; Paige Winters; Bryan Woodward; JoAnn Wright; and Betty Young.

Mr. Speaker, I strongly urge this body to honor these victims by passing H. Res. 980.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to support this resolution expressing condolences to the families, friends, and loved ones of the victims of the crash of Comair Flight 5191.

It should come as a sobering fact that this is the worst aviation crash our country has

seen since 2001. The crash occurred on Comair Flight 5191 upon take-off at 6:07 am at Blue Grass Airport, in Lexington, KY. The flight was en route to Atlanta, GA.

All but one of the 50 people on board, including passengers and crew, died. The only individual who survived the crash, copilot James M. Polehinke, is recovering at Chandler Medical Center, in Lexington, Kentucky, and we wish him a speedy recovery.

Many individuals and entities who responded to the disaster acted nobly, cooperatively, and admirably. Federal, state, and local officials and volunteers were soon on the scene, and I applaud their efforts.

However, this was clearly a mistake, and an accident that should never have occurred. We desperately need adequate and rigorous oversight to ensure the operational safety of every commercial flight in this country. Air control towers across the country are currently short-staffed. Since September 2003, the number of air traffic controllers has plummeted from 15,386 to 14,305 in August 2006. Moreover, at the time of this tragic accident, there was only one air traffic controller present, which is a violation of FAA guidelines which mandate at least two air traffic controllers be present.

At the heart of every oversight issue is inevitably a funding issue Funds must be provided and managed effectively and efficiently in order to make sure that there exists a sufficient level of trained air traffic controllers ensuring the safety of air travel.

I offer my sympathy to the good citizens of Kentucky, and I join Mr. Chandler in mourning those lost and honoring their memory. I encourage my colleagues to support this resolution.

Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today to pay tribute to Comair Flight 5191 and I join my colleagues in support of H. Res. 980. My deepest sympathies, thoughts and prayers are with the families and friends of the victims of this tragic event that occurred in Lexington, Kentucky.

It is little solace to them that we have the safest air transportation system in the world, or that we had not had a major fatal accident in five years. Along with our support of this resolution, what Congress must do to honor these victims is to learn everything we can from this accident to try to prevent similar events in the future. Their lives will be remembered in the work we do here. As the ranking Democrat on the Aviation subcommittee, I am committed to making sure this happens. The National Transportation Safety Board is conducting a thorough investigation of this accident, and I fully support its efforts, along with those of the Federal Aviation Administration and the Inspector General of the Department of Transportation.

Mr. Speaker, I again remember those that lost their lives in this accident and offer my condolences to their loved ones. I also urge my colleagues to support H. Res. 980.