As the one-year anniversary of the Feb. 13, 2009, commuter airline crash near Buffalo, N.Y., approaches, there are conflicting views over how much safety standards for regional airlines have changed in the past 11 months. Continuing winter weather is a reminder that flying in snowy or icy conditions requires extra vigilance on the part of pilots, and that pilots with more flying experience and top- rated skills are best prepared to deal with winter weather issues.

According to an Associated Press report this week, "key safety reforms haven't been implemented nearly a year after 50 people died in a crash of a regional airline near Buffalo."

The crash of the Colgan Air turboprop exposed troubling issues regarding training and experience for pilots with regional airlines. And because commuter airlines account for about half of all commercial airline flights, moving passengers to and from major, hub airports, a safety issue concerning regional airlines is of interest to most of the flying public, meaning millions of Americans.

The most stunning revelations soon after the Buffalo crash centered around the fact that the pilot in the crash had failed five piloting skills tests before finally passing and being hired by Colgan. Pilot fatigue surfaced as a possible contributing issue when it was learned he had commuted overnight from his home in Florida to Newark, N.J., where the flight originated.

The co-pilot on the flight was a 24-year-old woman who earned $16,000 as a pilot the year before and had commuted to Newark the night before the fatal flight from Seattle, where she lived with her parents. In addition to possible fatigue from her overnight flights, the co-pilot was heard on voice recorders complaining about a cold, even asking the pilot to fly at a lower altitude to ease her sinus pressure pain.

Data recorders revealed that when a warning signaled that the plane was close to a dangerous stall situation, the pilot reacted incorrectly, making the problem worse rather than correcting it. A more-experienced and more-skilled pilot probably would have reacted correctly to the warning, saving 50 lives.

The AP story said the Federal Aviation Administration has increased inspection of pilot training programs in the past year. Also, in reaction to the Buffalo crash, the FAA has convinced regional airlines to make some voluntary changes. But the AP report suggests final FAA action on the most critical issues raised by the crash still are months, maybe years, away.

Soon after the crash, politicians and federal regulators promised swift action. Those promises were not fulfilled.

Former National Transportation Safety Board member Kitty Higgins said this week, "Here we are, almost a year later, and fundamentally nothing has changed in terms of conditions that caused the accident."

A Washington Post article notes that the last six accidents involving commercial airlines were on planes operated by regional carriers.

Another problem revealed by cockpit voice recorders involves idle chatter between the pilot and co-pilot in the minutes leading up to the fatal crash. The FAA has rules prohibiting such conversations, wisely directing that pilots' full attention should he on the flight and preparations for landing.

The weakness in identifying and removing unqualified pilots has been shown to be a weakness in the current system. Despite airlines' claims that they are focusing more attention on the pilot-quality issue, it's been noted that the commercial airline industry once benefited from hiring many experienced military pilots. A member of the inquiry board hearing testimony about the fatal Colgan flight noted that the military has a "sensible and robust washout system" that filters out and removes most substandard pilots, meaning those pilots were not in the pool being hired by commercial airlines. The current civilian pilot-training system lacks the same ability to remove weaker pilots, and that's something that the FAA and airline industry must address.

Despite FAA claims that there have been some safety improvements, the lack of heightened safety standards and less-than-robust system for identifying and removing poor-performing pilots at regional airlines is troubling. The flying public has a right to expect more on such an issue where airline safety and lives are at stake.