FAA urged to adopt fatigue rules for cargo pilots (USA Today_19.04.2012)
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By Bart Jansen, USA TODAY_ http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/post/2012/04/cargo-pilot-fatigue-faa-regulations/675256/1
Regulating the amount that airline pilots fly remains hotly contested, as pilots urge the Federal Aviation Administration to adopt the same rules for cargo as for passenger flights.
The concern is that a drowsy pilot could cause problems in the same airspace or runways that passenger planes travel. But when the FAA finalized its rule in December for more rest for passenger pilots, in reaction to the Colgan Air crash that killed 50 near Buffalo three years, cargo pilots were left out because government officials decided the benefits didn't justify the cost.
Rep. Chip Cravaack, R-Minn., proposed legislation Tuesday to force the Transportation Department to apply the same rule to cargo and passenger pilots. The bill faces an uncertain future in Congress, with the industry group Airlines for America opposing the bill and pilots' unions supporting it.
"As a former cargo pilot, I understand the importance of a single standard of safety for our pilots who share the same airspace and runways with passenger aircraft," says Cravaack, the keynote speaker at an Air Line Pilots Association conference.
Under FAA's new rule going into effect in January 2014, passenger pilots will be limited to flying eight or nine hours, depending on the start time. Minimum rest periods will be 10 hours, with the opportunity for eight hours of uninterrupted sleep.
But FAA consulted about the rule with the Transportation Department and the White House's Office of Management and Budget, and decided basically that cargo accidents are so rare that costly remedies such as fatigue rules aren't justified. FAA estimated it would cost passenger airlines $300 million a year to comply with the new rule and airlines contend the figure is much higher.
Peggy Gilligan, associate FAA administrator for aviation safety, says her agency calculates that society would be willing to pay $6 million to prevent each airline fatality, so costs for applying the rule to cargo pilots were weighed against the likelihood of accidents and how much the new rule would prevent.
"This is just one example of how difficult it will be to put new safety regulations in place in aviation because of the outstanding safety record," Gilligan says.
But she says passenger and cargo airlines still must have plans for combating pilot fatigue.
"We are not sitting on our hands," Gilligan says. "There is more than one way to skin a cat."
Steve Alterman, president of Cargo Airline Association, says the industry guards against accidents because it is geared to offer better rest between flights and pilots fly fewer hours per month.
"Our segment of the industry is unique and it provides more and longer rest opportunities for its flight-crew members," Alterman says.
Capt. Sean McDonald, a member of FedEx's Master Executive Council, says cargo pilots and their families would disagree with Gilligan's calculation about societal costs outweighing greater safety.
"Our customers are willing to pay that additional cost," McDonald says.
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FAA Issues Pilot Fatigue Final Rule(21/12/2011):
http://www.faa.gov/news/updates/?newsId=66449&omniRss=news_updatesAoc&cid=101_N_U
