To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.

Then come back here and refresh the page.

CHARLOTTE -- Federal regulators held three days of hearings in Washington, D.C., this week investigating the February crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407, and changes could be on the way for regional airline operations.

"They play a major role; almost half the flights are regional carriers,” said UNC Charlotte professor and airline expert Peter Schwarz.

Flight 3407, operated by Colgan Air, crashed in Buffalo, killing all 49 people on board and one person on the ground. Some experts say stricter operating regulations could come out of the hearings.

"I definitely think things are going to change,” Schwarz said.

Schwarz says all regional airlines and pilots must meet the same federal regulations, but from there each company sets its own policies.

"There's a difference between meeting them and exceeding them,” he added. “It isn't clear that they all actually perform at the same standards."

In 2003, an Air Midwest flight crashed into a hangar at Charlotte/Douglas International Airport, killing 21 people. The National Transportation Safety Board ruled uneven weight distribution and mechanics were at fault, sparking the FAA to change regulations.

"It does remind you of the same type of thing,” said Schwarz. “The pattern was that after that the question was, ‘who really were the mechanics and did they have the same standards?’"

Schwarz says many times airlines have several layers of subsidiary companies, making it harder to investigate if something goes wrong.

Federal investigators haven't reached a formal conclusion about the deadly crash of Flight 3407.