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.

Were you trained at a pilot academy? Tell ABC News about your experience.

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.

Several Pilots Involved in Accidents Once Flew for Gulfstream

Renslow was not the only pilot to later encounter problems after receiving some of his training through Gulfstream. The first officer on the Comair plane that crashed in Lexington, Ky., in 2006 also flew for Gulfstream International early in his career. The first officer on a Pinnacle Airlines jet that crashed in 2006 received his training through Gulfstream and flew for the carrier. The captain on that Pinnacle flight had also previously flown for Gulfstream.

The National Transportation Safety Board blamed the 2006 Pinnacle accident on "the pilot's unprofessional behavior, deviation from standard operating procedures, and poor airmanship, which resulted in an in-flight emergency from which they were unable to recover, in part, because of the pilot's inadequate training. "

Gulfstream has 30 days to respond to the FAA's charges, after which the FAA considers whether to stick with the fine or reduce it. The company's spokesman was unavailable to comment Thursday.

Meanwhile, ABC News last week received more than 100 e-mails from regional pilots who weighed in on the state of commuter airlines in the wake of the Buffalo crash hearing.

Many suggested that the picture painted of Colgan Air was not an anomaly. Several said the regional carriers -- often perceived as the farm teams where pilots and crew members gain experience before working on larger commercial jets -- aren't making the grade.

"In the interest of cost cutting, the commuter airlines seem to be overworking and underpaying their pilots," Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., told ABC News. "The training doesn't seem to be full and adequate."

The regional airline industry has doubled in size in the past 14 years. Now, nearly a quarter of all passengers flying on any given day in the United States are flying a regional carrier. In the past seven years, more than 150 people have lost their lives in regional airline accidents in the United States, compared to just one in a major carrier accident.

After several commuter plane crashes in the early 1990s, rules took effect in 1997 that created more stringent requirements for commuter planes. They now have to follow the same rules as the major carriers.

Pilots can be on duty 16 hours per day, which includes time not spent flying, such as preparing the plane and monitoring weather reports. They can fly only eight hours in a 24-hour period. The FAA also requires 250 hours of flying time for pilot hires, although it says industry practice is usually higher, with many logging at least 500 hours.

"This is all one industry, one level of safety," Roger Cohen, president of the Regional Airline Association, said today. "And that's something the industry is committed to 24-7."