Limits on flight duty hours have been around since the 1940's when aircraft first gained the ability to stay aloft for significant periods of time.(Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) 2011) As airplanes get better and better at staying in the air longer and longer, the need for serious, science based rules on dealing with and preventing pilot fatigue have become more important. There were rules in place that addressed the duty times and required rest that airline pilots, but these rules, that were supposed to be the bare minimum, quickly became the norm for nearly every operator. This resulted in more fatigued pilots that made more mistakes, some with tragic consequences.
The new rules that were put together in response to the Colgan Air Crash in Buffalo in 2009. These rules improved on the previous rules by using the latest in Fatigue science and research. (FAA 2011) Some of the changes that the new rule made were that it changed the amount of available duty time depending on when the day started for the crew, their Flight Duty Period or FDP could be 9 hours up to 14 hours. (FAA 2011)
The new rules limit the amount of time that a pilot can be at the controls to 8 or 9 hours in one day, and mandates that they should have 10 hours of rest with at least 8 being available for rest. The new rules also increase the amount of time that the crew must be off in a 7 day period from 24 hours to 30 hours (FAA 2011) And lastly the rule states that pilots must be trained to be able to identify and mitigate fatigue that can degrade their abilities.
One major discrepancy that this major rule change had, was that it excluded all cargo carriers from having to comply with the new rules. The All Cargo carriers such as UPS and FEDEX are under the old rules that just required 10 hours of rest for every 14 hours on duty, with changes if the duty time ran over it was possible if the pilots were given an extended rest after the fact. (Carroll 2014) But the problem is these rules were made to be the bare minimum of rest that the pilots should get, but in the world of "always increasing Productivity" these bare minimums became the norm. I have flown 135 cargo and I can tell you that the rules were not sufficient to keep you from getting fatigued.
There are many reasons that the cargo companies are exempt from the new rules. The first and biggest being money. I remember when I was flying cargo, we talked about the new rules and I was told by a UPS rep that if they had to comply with the new rules it would cost every one of its nearly 400 domestic bases over $400,000 a year more to operate. Now I think that this number may be a bit overblown but the FAA concluded that it would cost the entire industry over $550 million to implement the new rules on cargo carriers (Carroll 2014) so this number could be close. Other reasons that could be that the Cargo carriers got out of the new rules is that there just isn't that many people that know about cargo carriers, because they work the back of the clock and don't have paying passengers that have congressmen on the airplane.
I don't believe that cargo carriers should be exempt from the new duty rules, because of my own experience. It is a miracle that I didn't crash in the first two weeks of flying cargo, because you are just thrown into a new schedule that dictates when you need to sleep and where you will sleep, usually a cheap hotel, or crappy apartment, and that is very hard to just jump into. It took at least two weeks before I was acclimated to the schedule and was able to sleep when and where I was supposed to. And I was just flying a small single engine turboprop Caravan, not a large jet like the A300 that went down in Alabama, while I was flying cargo and after the rules came out that exempted cargo carriers. Those pilots were fatigued and even talked about how crazy it was that they weren't under the same rules, on the flight that they crashed and killed both of them! (Carroll 2014)
There would be some big changes on the landscape if the rule applied to cargo carriers, first there would be more pilot jobs because there would need to be more pilots to relieve the tired pilots. The carriers would have to be much better at scheduling crews and knowing the factors that could delay flights and cause pilots to go over duty times.
Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). (2011). Flightcrew member duty and rest requirements(RIN 2120-AJ58). Retrieved from http://Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). (2011, December 21). final rule, flightcrew member duty and rest requirements. Retrieved from http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/rulemaking/recently_published/media/2120-AJ58-FinalRule.pdf
Carroll, J. R. (2014, March 13). UPS pilots urge more rest for cargo crews. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/13/ups-pilots-urge-more-rest-for-cargo-crews/6402615/
It is very interesting to read about your time spent working for a cargo carrier. So you can show first hand that there is a need for reform in the cargo industry and regulations due need to be imposed on these pilots. To have to be able to quickly change your sleeping schedule and do the opposite what is the norm for the human body is crazy, and is what obviously causes fatigue. Therefore I agree with you that there needs to be duty limits for cargo pilots, because a tired pilot is a tired pilot no matter what type of flight they are flying.
ReplyDeleteComing from a cargo pilot like yourself i understand more why there is a need to give cargo pilots more rest. to me it is just unfair what they have to go through and no human should be placed in these working conditions.
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