Pilot Fatigue Rules

Last week, the FAA issued its new pilot fatigue rules and I’ve expected airlines to decry the changes because there will be some impact to the productivity that many are taking advantage of based on the current rules.  The FAA recognized that no one rule would necessarily address the problem and therefore came up with a system to guide just how long a pilot may be on duty.

The system takes into account night flying, duty hours as a whole and, most importantly, the need to provide a real opportunity for a pilot to get a real 8 hours of sleep.  For example, under current rules a pilot rest time can be as little as 8 hours and it starts when he/she walks off the aircraft.  That doesn’t take into account the very real needs to A) transport oneself to a bed, eat, bath, and transport oneself back to the aircraft at duty reporting time.  In the real world and under the existing rules, a pilot’s real rest time could often be reduced to as little as 5 hours of sleep.

Now, a pilot gets a minimum of 10 hours of “rest” time and I think that’s a good thing. 

The impact to the airlines may be real but it also is level set among all the airlines.  Costs will likely go up some and, if they do, you can bet air fares will too.  The incremental increase in costs, however, should be fairly minimal. 

Cargo carriers are, apparently, being given the opportunity to opt out of these new rules.  On the surface, this may well seem like a bad idea since their flying is predominantly night flying.  However, the cargo carriers do have significantly different circumstances under which they fly.  In general, their flying is less stressful and less prone to delays and more straightforward.  Today, I can’t find a real objection to allowing a carrier to opt out of these although I suspect the unions for these carriers would disagree with me.

As with all new rules, it will take a while for the consequences to shake out and reveal themselves.  I honestly can’t fathom just how this may impact union contracts but I suspect there will be some things that will need to get renegotiated in the near future. 

Will this prevent incidents based on fatigue?  Yes, on the surface, it should help with the number of fatigue related incidents.  With that said, I should also point out that the fundamental responsibility for following these rules and managing fatigue continue to lie with both the airlines and the pilots.  In other words, there is much more opportunity here for pilots to manage their fatigue but it is also the pilots who must use that opportunity to actually get better rest and benefit from the rules.

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