Roger Cohen, president of the RAA stated, "This tax would place the heaviest burden on regional airlines that provide the only source of scheduled air service to over 75 percent of the nation's airports.

This jeopardizes air service to some 500 U.S. communities relying on regional airlines exclusively for their scheduled flights.

Foose argued that HR 5900's clause allowing for academic substitution of flight experience should be invoked.

[10] Foose said,The FAA has, through the rule-making process, the opportunity to amend the ATP standards to allow for academic credit in lieu of some flight time.

Unless the FAA's new rule recognizes the value of some of the new academic flight training programs, we'll see a decrease in the pilot supply.

[13] On Feb 12th, 2010, a year after the crash of Continental Express/Colgan flight 3407, Frontline premiered its WGA Award winning exposè on the industry entitled "Flying Cheap".

In it, journalist Miles O'Brien questioned the impact such low salaries are having on pilot psyches and how safe this could be for the flying public.