Flight 3407 families: Still pushing for aviation safety, no matter the cost

Feb. 16--WASHINGTON -- They came to Congress Thursday once again clad in red, some of the faces older now, but some of the faces new.

Many of them are a little poorer after dozens of trips like this one, yet richer in the thought that they're lifesavers.

After all, not one life has been lost in a crash of a U.S. commercial airplane since the Families of Continental Flight 3407 won passage of landmark aviation safety legislation in 2010.

"This has been the safest period in aviation history," said Scott Maurer of Palmetto, Fla., who lost his daughter, Lorin, in the crash. "We're just one part of that."

Maurer is part of a core of five Flight 3407 family members who have traveled to Washington more than 100 times to lobby for aviation safety since 50 people died in that crash in Clarence nine years ago. Each of the five has spent more than $100,000 out of their own pockets to make these trips.

And every year around the Feb. 12 crash anniversary, dozens of other family members join them to pressure lawmakers from every corner of the country to preserve the gains the families won in legislation passed in 2010.

More than 20 people from New York and eight other states made the trip this year, spending hundreds of dollars on airplane tickets and accommodations and giving up vacation time to visit their senators and representatives and urge them to never, ever tamper with that aviation safety law.

"We're passionately committed to this," said Kevin Kuwik, another of the five core family members. "And we're not going away."

Proof of that could be found at the podium at the families' press conference Thursday, where Kelsey Johnston, 26, appeared for the first time.

She was a high school senior when her father, Kevin Johnston of East Amherst, died in the Flight 3407 crash. Now she's a speech and language pathologist who traveled to Washington from Boulder, Colo., for the event.

"I wanted to be here to support our families," she said. "And it's important to get some younger people involved."

It was important for her, too, to remember her dad, and what he missed.

"My dad was not there to walk my sisters down the aisle, and he won't be there to walk me down the aisle, either," Johnston told the crowd at a news conference at the Capitol. "He will never have the opportunity to meet his grandchildren and see that they have the same dark brown eyes that he had."

Not that she, or the other family members, dwell on all that pain.

"Together, the Families of Flight 3407 turned our pain into action," Johnston said.

The families lobbied Congress into passing the most comprehensive aviation safety law in decades in 2010. Then they pressed the Federal Aviation Administration into writing the new pilot rest, training and experience rules called for in the law.

And now, they're fighting an airline industry attempt to weaken the law's requirement that every copilot have 1,500 hours of flight experience before being hired by a commercial airline.

So far, the families are winning.

Several of the family members met Thursday with Ali Bahrami, the associate administrator for aviation safety, and other officials at the Federal Aviation Administration.

"We felt they were committed" to the safety law, said Karen Eckert, another one of the five most active family members. She lost her sister, Sept. 11 activist Beverly Eckert, in the crash.

In Congress, Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, a New York Democrat, has blocked attempts to weaken the law. He and the region's four House members -- Reps. Chris Collins (R-Clarence), Brian Higgins (D-Buffalo), Louise M. Slaughter (D-Fairport) and Tom Reed (R-Corning) -- attended Thursday's news conference, and all heaped praise on the families.

"Who knows what plane might have crashed in what area and on what snowy night if we hadn't done this," said Schumer, a key player in the passage of the aviation safety bill.

And Collins said: "During their hardest moments, these families came together to do something that all Americans are thankful for, keeping our skies safe."

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Doing so was quite the the investment. John Kausner of Clarence, another of the five central members of the group, said the five traveled up their travel costs a couple years ago. Each had spent more than $100,000 on trips to Washington.

"Eighty, 90, 100 times we've been down here," said Kausner, who lost his daughter, Ellyce, in the crash. "It feels a bit like that movie 'Groundhog Day.' We just keep doing this over and over and coming back here. But one thing I noticed about the guy in 'Groundhog Day.' He got better at what he did ... He had things down after a while. So do we."

Even the family members who travel to Washington less often end up making a big investment. Ron Aughtmon of Ransomville said he's probably spent about $10,000 on trips to Washington over the years, all in honor of his late uncle, John Fiore.

A veteran, "he would always fight for what's right," Aughtmon said, adding that he wanted to do the same.

The group also relies on other members to come to the fore on occasion, when their time and their emotions permit.

For example, Jeanie Bryson -- the widow of jazz musician Coleman Mellett -- made the trip Thursday for only the second time.

"To be perfectly honest, I had a very difficult time joining together with the group at first," said Bryson, who traveled to D.C. from East Rutherford, N.J., for Thursday's events. "Emotionally, I just couldn't do it."

But now she can. "I want to be here to support everyone else," she said.

That support matters, said Kuwik, who guided the group as the aviation safety legislation made its way through Congress.

"This picture of you standing up here in red -- that's why we're so strong," Kuwik said. "That sends the strongest message to the people that would want to do something against what we worked so hard for. It shows how resolved we are, how firm we are, how committed we are."

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