The crash of Colgan Air 3407 led to the FAA revamping the entire professional pilot world with new regulations pertaining to the Airline Transport Piot (ATP) certificate as well as the duty/rest time requirements. Before the accident, all that was required to work for the airlines was a commercial certificate which took about 250 hours. Additionally, an ATP certificate was not required by both pilots, only the pilot in command was required to hold an ATP certificate. In addition to the hour requirement change to obtain an ATP, there have been changes to the crew rest/duty times.
According to an article in USA Today written by Nancy Trejos, she states "The new regulations, which don't apply to cargo pilots, require that pilots get at least 10 hours of rest between shifts. Eight of those hours must involve uninterrupted sleep. In the past, pilots could spend those eight hours getting to and from the hotel, showering and eating. Pilots will be limited to flying eight or nine hours, depending on their departure times. They must also have 30 consecutive hours of rest each week, a 25% increase over the previous requirements." (Trejos, 2014)
The changes that were applied to the airlines were not meant for the cargo industry. For part 121 cargo operators, the current duty day hold a maximum of 16 hours, 8 of which is the maximum for flying. If there are more than 2 pilots the maximum is upped to 12 hours of flying. While the regulations are different for cargo operators, the rules are still established in the best interest for the pilots, total flying time is not what people perceive even though there may be longer duty times. The cargo industry is a 24 hour a day operation to meet operational demands and if flights are cancelled due to short duty days an entire operation may cease operations until the parts needed can arrive. The total duty day of 16 hours may seem like a lot to an airline pilot, it is normal for a cargo pilot. This is misinterpreted by some, such as Senator Barbara Boxer, that the pilots are flying all of that time and it is not safe. The pilots, in reality, have less time flying (8 hours) than those in the airlines (9 hours). According to a report done by the Cargo Airline Association, "Cargo pilots are allowed to fly up to 8 hours (as opposed to 9 hours for passenger carriers under their rules) then legally must have a rest period. In a situation where there are three crewmembers or more, cargo pilots may fly up to 12 hours. While, cargo pilots may be on duty for 16 hours, under no circumstances do they ever fly 16 hours without rest. There is a very big difference between being on duty and actual flight time flying the aircraft. These are baseline rules - the labor management contract allows for even more rest, but it's specific to each all-cargo carrier." (CAA, 2016)
I personally do not think that these rules need to change. As the CAA report also states, there have only been cargo operator accidents in the past 20 years dealing with fatigue. This is not a need for a crisis management plan to reduce duty time. Additionally, what people do not think about is that cargo pilots can claim that they are fatigued and not fly a certain trip with no repercussions. Also, changing the way the duty times work would put a kink in the hose that is on demand cargo, causing problems with the operations of the end customer.
If the cargo operators were forced to adhere to the same regulations as passenger carrying operators it could create a wave that would ripple down and possibly affect my career in a negative way. Let's say this happened and the cargo companies were forced to hire more crews to handle the operations. A lot of the smaller companies would most likely not be able to afford the extra payroll and would have to go out of business, this would create less pilot jobs and put more pilots on the street looking for jobs which would make it harder to find a job. Another negative impact could be that the companies that would have to hire more pilots could lower the pay scale to be able to afford the increase in staffing.
Trejos, N. (2014). New pilot fatigue rules go into effect this weekend. Retrieved October 08, 2016, from http://www.usatoday.com/story/todayinthesky/2014/01/03/pilot-fatigue-mandatory-rest-new-faa-rules/4304417/
News. (2016, April 13). Retrieved on October 08, 2016, from http://cargoair.org/2016/04/setting-the-record-straight-on-all-cargo-duty-and-rest-amendment/
I agree with you that the rules do not need to change. The current push to change the regulations is a more of a political move which creates an illusion of safety for the general public. Cargo and passenger flights are two different things and need two sets of rules that accommodate each aspect of aviation and not a one size fits all approach.
ReplyDeleteI disagree with you i do feel that rules need to change. This rule is prolonged i believe to save money on the part of the cargo carriers. Yes it will cut jobs but safety and proper pay is more important than anything else in the industry. This will require pilots to gain more skill to beat out competition for the jobs they want due to it being more limited seats. Yes cargo carrying and passenger carrying are different entities but the staff deserve equal respect.
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