You’ve seen issues surrounding regional airline safety raised in the news, on Capitol Hill, and at regulatory agencies. ALPA has been, and will continue to be, front and center in these discussions, representing you as the voice for airline pilots. Today, every voice in Washington, D.C. counts, and nothing says power like all 54,000 ALPA members sending D.C. decision-makers a strong, unified message.

Contact your federal legislators now, during ALPA’s Call to Action on Regional Airline Safety campaign, to deliver messages through emails, letters, and calls that hit legislators from the core—their constituents, the people who vote in their districts.

Use the Call to Action link to send your messages directly to your House and Senate representatives. Choose from messages on pilot fatigue, pilot training, and safety programs, or compose a message of your own. These issues aren’t new to pilots flying the line. You know first-hand the laundry list of items that need attention from the government, our airlines, and the industry.

Regional Airline Safety - Fatigue

Federal rules regulating flight and duty time for airline pilots have not significantly changed in over 60 years, since well before jet transport came into use. Today's pilots fly across multiple time zones, many times a day or night, wreaking havoc on normal circadian rhythms. Pilots are also spending much more time at work each day than the number of hours recorded actually flying an airplane. Federal regulations need to be updated to reflect the realities of flying in the 21st century and improve aviation safety.

To learn more, read ALPA President John Prater's testimony before the Senate Aviation Subcommittee of the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee, ALPA Testimony on Aviation Safety: The Role and Responsibilities of Commercial Air Carriers and Employees, 6/17/2009.

ALPA must persuade Congress to update the federal regulations for flight and duty time now! To do that, your help is needed at the grassroots level. Let your Members of Congress know how you feel about this critical issue. Contact your Senators and Representative to voice your strong support for updating flight and duty time rules based on sound science and flying in the 21st century.

Sample Letter
I am a regional airline pilot, a member of the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA), and your constituent. I am very concerned about the conditions which have been brought to light by the NTSB and Congressional hearings following the Colgan Air Flight 3407 accident near Buffalo, NY. While it is a terrible tragedy, hopefully we can learn from the accident.

Pilot fatigue is a serious problem for all airline pilots, but particularly for “regional” airline pilots. We often fly very demanding schedules and perform many more takeoffs and landings than our major airline counterparts. There have been endless studies conducted on fatigue, and the conclusion is simple: Tired pilots do not perform as well in the cockpit. Reflexes, alertness and judgment are all impaired when a pilot is fatigued.

Regional airlines compete for contracts offered by major carriers. Downward pricing pressure is very intense. These contracts are usually short term and are renewed on a continuously revolving basis, so as to keep costs down to the lowest bidder. This is understandable from a business point of view.

However, there is a point where cost pressure is affecting airline safety. In an effort to shave costs and maximize pilot productivity, regional airlines are regularly scheduling flight crews to the minimum rest periods allowed by FAA crew rest regulations. The plain truth is that these regulations have not been changed since the 1940’s and do not adequately address the schedules that regional pilots routinely fly.

The current FAA minimum rest period is 8 hours. That is defined as 8 hours from when the aircraft parking brake is set at night to when the aircraft parking brake is released the next morning. This “rest” period does not take into account waiting for a hotel shuttle, driving to and from the hotel, finding meals, or TSA security screening. It is likely that a pilot might only be asleep for 5 or 6 hours on a rest period such as this.

Please consider supporting a change to the FAA flight time and duty time regulations based on sound science and which take into account circadian rhythms, flight schedules and time zone differences.

Thank you for your interest in air safety. I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.