In February 2009, Continental Flight 3407 crashed outside of Buffalo, N.Y., killing 49 people onboard and one on the ground. Although 3407 was painted in the colors of Continental Connection, it was actually operated by Colgan Air, a regional airline that flies routes under contract for US Airways, United and Continental. The crash and subsequent investigation revealed a little-known trend in the airline industry: Major airlines have outsourced more and more of their flights to obscure regional carriers. Today, with regional airlines accounting for more than half of all scheduled domestic flights in the United States and responsible for the last six fatal commercial airline accidents, FRONTLINE producer Rick Young and correspondent Miles O'Brien investigate the safety issues associated with outsourcing flights.

Clay Foushee, a congressional investigator and former airline executive, calls the crash a watershed event. "It's become the symbol of everything that's wrong with the industry." Bill Voss, president of the Flight Safety Foundation, seconds that: "There are some accidents that really make you step back and take a look at what's happening in the system. [Flight] 3407 forces us to look at issues like commuting, fatigue. It forces us to look at training. It forces us to look at fundamental regulatory relationships. It's a very important event."

The FRONTLINE investigation also examines how well the Federal Aviation Administration, the agency responsible for overseeing safety of the airline industry, has been doing its job. Documents and interviews obtained by FRONTLINE indicate the agency was aware of significant and repeated safety concerns at Colgan Air dating back more than a decade.

In this video excerpt from Flying Cheap consider the impact of major airlines outsourcing flights to low-cost regional carriers:

Video Segment Themes:

• As a way of cutting costs, major airlines increasingly use smaller regional carriers, like Colgan Air, to operate more than half of U.S. domestic flights.
• Passengers are generally not aware that their flights are frequently outsourced to regional carriers; they believe when they buy a ticket from Continental, they are getting “Continental pilots, Continental safety and Continental service.”
• After the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation revealed that pilot error was the likely cause of the crash of Continental Flight 3407, it began to investigate the professional backgrounds of the pilots, which raised questions about pilot qualifications, training and pay.
• The crash of Continental Flight 3407 was a “watershed accident” which forced regulators to focus their attention on the safety of regional airline operations.

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