Pilot Fatigue FAA New Rules

After the FAA released the new revised flight and duty rules on December 21^st many pilots took a big sigh of relief. It is clear to the public and aviation community the amendment will fabricate a shortage of pilots in all 121 operations.  There are a few key points the new rules change such as higher minimum rest periods, cumulative flight and duty time limits, new training requirements, and fit for duty releases. In my personal opinion, the greatest impact will lie within the flight time limits of previously 8 hours to the increased 10-hour rest requirement.  As a training dispatcher and commercial pilot I may have a skewed analytical view, but clearly anyone is capable of seeing how these small changes will shift the industry.

The recommended amount of sleep required for a healthy body is 8 hours according to The National Sleep Foundation. The previous rest requirements in place gave airline pilots a minimum of 8-hour rest period. All that means is that they are off the clock for 8 hours. Therefore, as soon as their tasks are complete on their last flight for the day that 8 hours starts. Let say a pilot arrives at the gate around 11:30 p.m. at our local Detroit Metro Airport. It takes an hour to empty and close down normal procedures. They are off the clock at 12:30 a.m., but are required to be back at the airport by 8:30 a.m. for there next flight. Said pilot arrives at their hotel around 1:00 a.m. to have a meal and hit the sack around 2:00 a.m.  The Pilot would have to be awake by 7:00 a.m. to shower, eat breakfast, and commute back to the airport. At most, after factoring the normal everyday functioning activities with this scenario said pilot is obtaining 5 hours of sleep. Now that is not healthy! In fact, as most individuals know, running on five hours of sleep consistently will not only cause a massive amount of sleep debt, but also have a noticeable decrease in the normal functions of an everyday human being.  To learn more about functions of sleep and contributing factors visit The National Institute of Health website.  

The FAA release states “a pilot must have an opportunity for 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep within the 10 hour rest period.” The new rules will allow each pilot the opportunity to obtain those 8 hours. Previously, there was no language referencing “uninterrupted” therefore the new rule guarantees the option for a full 8 hours.

Financially speaking, the new 10 hours minimum will require a change in previous procedures of the airlines. Generally, the same crew who flew a plane in and landed at 11pm will have the flight out of the destination at 6am.  To keep those same flight times available the airlines will have to schedule another crew to pick up those shifts. As you can see this will require an influx in crews if they wish to keep the same amount of business creating new training and wages. There may be a change in the schedule of flights as well as an increase in fares due to the incurred costs the airlines will be responsible for. The FAA states the new benefits will cost the industry around $300 million but the benefits of more safety and less accidents due to fatigue will is estimated between $247–$470 million.

Cargo Companies (Part 135 Operations) were excluded from the amendment of rest requirements due to insufficient cost benefits. After analyzing the situation I would have to agree with the FAA’s decision of exemption. The Cargo portion of the industry is an entirely different animal. There is not a set schedule for operations like the airliners and they work with inconsistent variables. To have the same set of rules is not logical for their operations.

 I however do agree with cargo pilots in the argument of changing the rest requirements to work with their specific operations. By not having a schedule the general vibe of the industry in comparison to the airlines is more relaxed. Cargo companies do not have the same business values as the airlines have with customer relations. Of course there is customer base, which have a more personal relation with the company than airlines with the general public. By working with the public the airlines undergo certain pressures such as frustrated customers due to increased fares, small seats, baggage fares, lost items, delays, cancellations, turbulence, and reputation. Cargo corporations are omitted from most of these pressures.  Furthermore, as we discussed in class the change would cause most of the cargo companies to go bankrupt, as they would have to double their crews to make up for the duty rules. This would cause undue stress on the already struggling economy causing a monopoly within the large cargo providers therefore defying our economic principles.

These factors alone bring me to the conclusion Airlines and Cargo Companies should not have the same regulation structure. It’s like running a zoo. You can have the overall structure of centralizing many species of animals in one place, but there is no way you would keep the cats (lions, tigers, panthers) in the same building as the reptiles. To reiterate my solution to the financial impact on cargo airlines and fatigue rules involves forming a different set of key points that is catered to the needs of the cargo companies. Such as with our example in class to expect a pilot to be fit for duty after being awake for 30 hours already is utterly vacuous and an accident waiting to happen. Something needs to change and it will take time before it is concluded.