Fri, Mar 02, 2012
Pilots Support Compliance With Duty And Crew Rest Rules
Covering Passenger Airline Crews
Pilots for cargo giant UPS took a preemptive action Wednesday
prior to a scheduled meeting Thursday between U.S. Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood and company executives. In that meeting,
LaHood (pictured) was expected to ask that UPS voluntarily opt-in
to the new FAA pilot fatigue rules. This meeting to seek elective
compliance from cargo airlines is a commitment the Secretary made
late last year when he announced the new rule.
In support of the Secretary's initiative, the Independent Pilots
Association (UPS pilots union) delivered a letter to Secretary
LaHood Wednesday morning.
Recent correspondence, however, from UPS to the IPA suggests
that the company may have already decided the issue. "UPS's
position on the issue is well documented. We believe that cargo and
passenger carriers require different regulatory approaches to duty
and rest," said UPS in a letter to the IPA.
The UPS letter was in response to "a formal request" to UPS CEO,
Scott Davis from IPA President, Captain Robert Travis "that UPS
voluntarily comply with the FAA's final pilot duty and rest
rule."
Since issuing the new rule, while speaking at the Aero Club of
Washington on January 31, Secretary LaHood has reiterated his
position: "I have invited our friends from the cargo airlines to
come to my office and talk about really looking at the rule that we
have adopted and implementing it. We think it's important that they
know what's in the rule and why it's important and hear it from us
and not read about it in the paper. And I'm going to just ask them
directly to be a part of it. I think they should be. It's safe.
Look, if everybody in this room believes in safety, which we do and
I know all of you do, I can't think of a reason why they wouldn't
want to do it. But we'll find out."
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