Sully to Congress: problems began with the deregulation of the industry in the 1970s.

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US Airways flight 1549 Capt. Chesley B Sullenberger III and First Officer Jeffrey B. Skiles receive a standing ovation on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. The pilots testified before the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee.

AP (Edited)

Sullenberger, a 58-year-old who joined a US Airways predecessor in 1980, told the House aviation subcommittee that his pay has been cut 40 percent in recent years and his pension has been terminated and replaced with a promise "worth pennies on the dollar" from the federally created Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. These cuts followed a wave of airline bankruptcies after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that were compounded by the current recession, he said. "The bankruptcies were used by some as a fishing expedition to get what they could not get in normal times," Sullenberger said of the airlines. He said the problems began with the deregulation of the industry in the 1970s.

The reduced compensation has placed "pilots and their families in an untenable financial situation," Sullenberger said. "I do not know a single professional airline pilot who wants his or her children to follow in their footsteps."

Testimonies on crash, industry

The subcommittee of the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee heard from the crew of Flight 1549, the air traffic controller who handled the flight and aviation experts to examine what safety lessons could be learned from the accident.

Sullenberger's copilot, Jeffrey B. Skiles, said that unless federal laws are revised to improve labor-management relations, "experienced crews in the cockpit will be a thing of the past." And Sullenberger added that without experienced pilots "we will see negative consequences to the flying public."

Sullenberger himself has started a consulting business to help make ends meet. Skiles added, "For the last six years, I have worked seven days a week between my two jobs just to maintain a middle class standard of living."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29366663/