Last-Minute Lobbying Stalls August 1 Implementation Of
Rules
Two years ago, in his first appearance at Oshkosh as FAA
Administrator, former airline pilot and former pilot union
president Randy Babbitt made it clear that getting crew rest and
duty rules updated would be a front-burner priority for him. It
still hasn't happened, and if the airlines have their way, it might
be delayed much longer.
FAA Admin. Randy Babbitt
New rules were supposed to take effect on Monday, but the Wall
Street Journal reports that direct appeals to the White House
Office of Management and Budget have prompted the administration to
review the rules, potentially adding weeks or months to the date on
which they might take effect.
The strongest opponents of the new rules appear to be cargo and
charter operators, who criticize the rules as a "one size fits all"
approach. Using scientific research on sleep patterns, the FAA
concluded that pilots need at least nine hours off between shifts,
not the eight currently mandated, and need their workdays limited
to 13 hours, down from 16, including any work they do on the
ground.
But in cases of flights which include periods of darkness and
multiple takeoffs and landings, which are much more common in the
regional, charter and cargo sectors, shifts could be limited to as
little as nine hours. The National Air Carrier Association said
earlier this year that provision could require pilot staffs to be
bloated by another 40%, a disaster to companies which fly, among
other missions, transport flights for US military troops.
Capt. Lee Moak
ALPA, the Air Line Pilots Association, issued a frustrated
statement this week, criticizing the White House for caving on the
issue. Union President Captain Lee Moak commented, "This is a
safety regulation, and it is unacceptable that the OMB appears to
have been pressured by a few companies whose goal is advancing
their own competitive interests rather than ensuring the safety of
the US air transportation system. By missing this critical
deadline, the White House has stalled a historic, safety-based
regulatory effort to create modern duty and rest regulations for US
airline pilots."
ALPA notes that The US National Transportation Safety Board has
placed addressing human fatigue on its Most Wanted List of
Transportation Safety Improvements since the list was started in
1990. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), which
sets international safety standards for aviation, has mandated
science-based pilot fatigue rules, and the union says the United
States currently fails to comply by not having modern science-based
regulations.