A new rule from the FAA that would effect changes to how commercial pilots are taught to deal with stalls was expected to be published this month, but now will be further delayed because of the government shutdown, the FAA has said. In a statement, the FAA said that employees at the FAA, the Transportation Department, and the Office of Management and Budget who are responsible for finalizing the rule all were furloughed, and “the agency is assessing the shutdown’s impact on finalizing the rule.” The new rule will mandate changes in how flight simulators work and how pilots are taught to react to stall warnings.
The new rules were motivated mainly by the investigation into the 2009 Colgan crash in Buffalo, which killed 50 people, and the Air France loss in the Atlantic in that same year, in which 228 people died. The FAA published an Advisory Circular (PDF) addressing stall recovery last year.
