Originally Posted by
DAWGS
My guess is they will blame this on the fact he had been sleeping (groggy) and not the fact that he actually needed rest and was extremely fatigued.
They are mostly extreme cases when accidents occur. 10 hour flight day-15 hour duty day will ensure more, not less of an opportunity for these extreme accidents.
What rumor? It is in black and white in the FT/DT NPRM. ALPA proposed this 13+2 duty day with 9 flight hours, till 4 in the morning, with their Sept., 2009 proposal. Under their proposal, pilots could fly a 9 hour flight day, 13 hour duty day, extendable to 15, by the captain and company only. This can happen as late as 0359. That is also in print. ALPA decided to leave out the European requirements placed on the PIC for extending the day, which imo, would have made the extensions more onerous.
Are you worked up yet now that the comment period is closed and you now know it is not a rumor?
You leave so much out of your statement. The current rule allows a 16 hour duty day with almost no limits on landings or time of report. The new rule has a 13 hour max with reports up to 1259 and 4 legs max. Reports later then that or with more legs reduces the time. There is a limited extension that the PIC can only use for 2 extra hours. The airline must report their overall compliance with the rule and must stay within the rule 95 percent of the time. Extension could never exceed 5 percent. Even the pilot in command can only authorize one extension over 30 minutes in any 168 hour period. In addition the required rest after a duty period is longer. The reserve rules are night and day better and DH counts toward any duty periods.
The proposal put forth by ALPA was not everything they wanted. It was hammered out between many entities. Several airline unions including SWA wanted much more liberal rules. Why? Because if adopted as published many pilots at many airlines will now have to work more days with more time away from home.
If we adopted something that would seem to satisfy you ever pilot would be working 25 days a month. There is a law of unintended consequences to everything. ALPA tried to find a balance that would promote safety and allow a reasonable quality of life. It also does you no good at all to put a unworkable proposal out that will simply be ignored. There are realities in all aspects of work rules. Some don't like it but they are there.
Without question the ALPA proposal is a dramatic improvement over current rules. Its not perfect however nothing is and the FAA chose to adopt much of what they put forward because it had real science behind the changes and still allowed airlines to staff and fly their schedules.