...Board member Kitty Higgins (click title to entry - thank you) said fatigue has been a factor in other crashes and is a major concern for the NTSB and the Federal Aviation Administration.
"When you put together the commuting patterns, the pay levels, the fact that the crew rooms aren't supposed to be used (for sleeping) but are being used — I think it's a recipe for an accident, and that's what we have here," Higgins said.
Shaw, 24, made $16,254 a year, although she could have earned more if she worked extra hours, said Roger Cox, NTSB's aviation safety operations group chairman. In questioning officials for Colgan Air of Manassas, Va., he suggested that Shaw was commuting from her home near Seattle because she couldn't afford to live in the New York metropolitan area on her salary.
Colgan operated the flight for Continental.
The night before the accident, Shaw flew overnight as a passenger from Seattle, changing planes in Memphis, to report to work at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey. She also complained about congestion and may have been suffering from a cold.
Shaw had worked for Colgan for 13 months. She had a second job in a coffee shop when first hired.
Renslow, 47, commuted to Newark from his home near Tampa, Fla. It is unclear where Renslow, who was in the middle of a two-day assignment, slept the night before the trip, but he logged into a computer from Colgan's crew room in Newark at 3 a.m. the night before, according to NTSB documents.
Colgan officials said their captains typically earn around $55,000 a year.
Neither pilot had a "crash pad" or apartment they shared with other pilots in the New York area, nor did they rent a hotel room, NTSB documents said.
NTSB investigators said 93 of the 137 Colgan pilots who worked out of Newark at the time of the accident were commuting from far away...
