revisions to the current FAA regulations based on fatigue research, circadian rhythms, and sleep and rest requirements. The current FAA rules glaringly fail to adequately address any of these issues and reform is decades overdue. Other U.S. federal agencies have moved towards scientifically-based worker fatigue regulations; the FAA is simply lagging behind other agencies when it comes to the need to modernize its fatigue rules.
When addressing possible revisions to the current FAA flight duty and rest regulations applicable to pilots, airlines and their pilots are immediately at cross-purposes. Managements are looking for more availability and “productivity” from flight crews. For flight crews, safety advocates and scientists, the question is often not whether to change the current rules, but rather how much to reduce the current maximum flight and duty limitations to enhance safety, raise human performance to acceptable levels, and reduce risk. Hence, the past approach of creating proposed regulations on notions of operational necessity without the assistance of scientists and technical advisors, or reference to the technical literature, has failed. Needed are rules which are grounded in the results of scientifically based fatigue studies and safety reports.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has enacted standards that will become effective in November 2009 which will require participating States to adopt rules limiting airline pilot duty periods that are based on science. The United States’ airline pilot fatigue rules currently do not meet this new international standard and the FAA will be under pressure to comply. In Europe, new regulations governing airline pilot flight time limitations were enacted in 2008. While implementation of these new regulations in individual European Union member States is an ongoing process, the design and implementation of scientifically-based airline pilot fatigue rules has been underway in Europe for some time. For example, the United Kingdom has for years had science-based airline pilot flight and duty time regulations. The U.K.’s rules, embodied in Civil Aviation Authority document CAP 371, account for human circadian rhythms and adjust maximum pilot duty periods based on time of day, number of flight legs, time zones crossed, acclimatization to local time and other factors. Under these scientifically-based rules, if a pilot who is normally awake during the day and asleep at night reports for duty during the middle of the night, he or she is simply not permitted to work as long as if he or she reported during normal daylight hours. The current FAA rules incorporate none of these modern, scientifically-justified fatigue protections.
Pilots performing commercial flying duties must have regulatory safeguards which provide them with an opportunity to get an adequate night of sleep before each duty day of flying. In some cases, pilots may lack access to adequate rest facilities to obtain needed recuperative sleep in order to prepare to safely operate the next flight or series of flights. Unfortunately, the combination of duty periods and personal or industry economic circumstances may in some cases operate to a deny pilot a realistic opportunity to obtain facilities for needed rest. Ensuring that a meaningful opportunity for rest is provided combined with a scientifically determined maximum length duty day, including provisions for the type of flying accomplished – whether it be traditional short haul, multiple sector flying or flights across multiple time zones – is essential to ensure that the U.S. air transportation system continues its envied record of safety. We believe it is possible to implement needed regulatory changes that will adequately address safety needs and the issues related to pilot fatigue without negatively impacting the ability of the nation’s airlines to serve the needs of the public.
To that end, we are pleased that the House included a provision in H.R. 915 to arrange for a study by the National Academy of Sciences on pilot fatigue which will examine recommendations made by the NTSB and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) on this subject, and provide recommendations concerning the FAA’s flight and duty regulations. ALPA stands ready to work with regulators and the industry to develop science-based rules that will adequately address the problem of fatigue.