Sadly, any 'expose' of regionals, Colgan, FAA, 'fatigue', or 'low-time', 'rest' etc. etc. will of course be sensational. The only solution lies in accountability. The lack thereof is breathtaking, in corporate and regulatory entities both. The only attention that should obtain to this sad situation is Headlines. So sad that to create accountability requires some form of published notoriety or punishment, in front of everyone. Just as we see the start of change (or not) from any direction, some other hole in the dike will appear, and people will die unnecessarily. The only thing that ever works in any democracy is criminal sanction and punishment. A 'wink' and a 'nod' should mean jail time, IMO.
Accountability is the absolute key issue. I worked in a regional airlines’ flight operations management for 7 years, and there is no doubt in my mind that “the system” has been deliberately designed to upstream control to the majors while keeping accountability for operations and maintenance downstream at the regional.
Marketing, scheduling of the aircraft (the life blood of an airline) and financial control all reside on the major airline side of what is, literally, an accountability firewall. Operations and maintenance – those are kept on the regional side of the firewall.
And the problem is developing within the major airlines themselves. The system of holding companies and code sharing agreements needs to be addressed so that accountability for the quality of the operation flows from every airplane in an airline’s colors all the way to the board room at the top of the corporate structure.