The Source for Trucking News, Opinions and Trucking Jobs | Pilot fatigue grows as problem for airlines

Everyone has their Hours of Service issues nowadays. I’ve never agreed that truck drivers should drive and get paid like airline pilots. The skills or the education isn’t there. I thought this was pertinant with all the Hours of Service problems trucking is up against.

Pilot fatigue grows as problem for airlines | csmonitor.com
As the industry’s finances worsen, pilots fret about falling asleep at the controls as flying hours get longer.
Part of the problem is that many pilots are flying more hours than ever before because of work-rule concessions they made to try to help the financially strapped carriers. Another factor is what critics call the archaic Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) rules governing how much rest pilots should get between flights. The current ones were developed in 1985, when the airline industry was entirely different. Critics contend that on one hand, they’re inadequate in terms of ensuring the pilot gets a good night’s rest – and on the other hand, their inflexibility ends up complicating scheduling, which can exacerbate the fatigue problem.

I swear I thought I was reading a story about the trucking industry problems with Hours of Service.

Since 1993, the NTSB has cited fatigue as a contributing factor in three commercial airline accidents. The most recent was the July 2002 crash of a FedEx cargo jet in Tallahassee, Fla. In that case, the pilots were flying on “the backside of the clock” – aviation jargon for a late-night, early-morning shift. Last month the NTSB noted pointedly in findings on the crash that more research needs to be done on such flights.

PATT wants to shut trucks down between midnight and 6am because of some research b.s.

Pilots whom the Monitor spoke with seconded that, saying that’s even more important now that strapped airlines try to cover more flights with fewer flight crews. It’s not only that crews are flying more hours, but they’re also working far more erratic schedules. One captain of a major airline says he’s scheduled to fly for two days, one all-nighter, and then for two days again. “That’s when you have the major fatigue problem,” says the captain, who didn’t want his name used. “Just try sleeping in the middle of the day, particularly in a hotel room. ‘Do not disturb’ signs don’t mean anything to the maids.”

PATT should rename themselves to Parents Against Tired Pilots. They’ll be so busy, they’ll leave us alone.

But pilots unions aren’t satisfied that is the case. They’ve been pushing the FAA to update fatigue rules since the early 1990s. In 1995, the FAA proposed some changes, but since then the issue has languished in political limbo – because the airlines and pilots can’t agree on new rules, and the FAA is reluctant to impose them.

“We’re not holding our breath because years ago they were saying that new rules were imminent, and it keeps getting pushed back,” says Bill Edmunds, a fatigue specialist at the Allied Pilots Association. “But we’re still trying to get some action on it.”

Only since 1990s? What a bunch of cry babies, our rules have been the same since the 1930s. And now they are back to the same rules again because you can’t please everyone. Then the losers go to the courts.

Originally posted 2004-08-06 03:30:00.