FAA Proposes $1.3 Million Fine For Gulfstream International Airline

May 21, 2009— -- The Federal Aviation Administration proposed a $1.3 million fine today against Gulfstream International Airline, a small regional carrier where the pilot in the Buffalo, N.Y., plane crash earlier this year had received some of his training.

Capt. Marvin Renslow was flying a Colgan Air plane when it crashed in Buffalo in February, killing all 49 people on board and one person on the ground. The accident was scrutinized last week during a public hearing that focused in part on Renslow's training and experience.

Today's fine is unrelated to the Buffalo accident.

Instead, the FAA is accusing Gulfstream of violating flight and duty times for pilots. The agency says the carrier, which operates 157 flights a day within Florida and to the Bahamas, failed to keep accurate work records, resulting in cockpit crews scheduled to work longer than allowed.

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The FAA also alleges that the airline installed unapproved air conditioning units, units made for automobiles, on some of its planes. The government agency also charges Gulfstream with installing improperly maintained vent blowers on six planes. The airline operates Beach 1900 turbo props, a 19-seat plane, as Continental Connection flights.

ABC News has learned that Gulfstream last week surrendered to the government an FAA certificate that allowed the company to run a separate pilot-training academy.

The FAA says the airline gave up the certificate because of "lack of need." The company does advertise the Gulfstream International Academy, promising first officer training and preferential hiring. But the FAA says the company was actually training pilots under the airline's own training program and not as a separate school. Gulfstream does not need a separate government certificate to do that.