Atlas Air Hiring
10-07-2013 | 03:28 PM
#7021
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 963
Likes: 0
From: What day is it?
The problem was internal to AMC. A lot of equipment coming out was supposed to be land shipped, but a coding error put it on planes. Looks like Altas will not be hit hard; but World, Southern and Kalitta are really going to get a gut punch.
10-07-2013 | 03:48 PM
#7022
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Oct 2011
Posts: 263
Likes: 0
The problem was internal to AMC. A lot of equipment coming out was supposed to be land shipped, but a coding error put it on planes. Looks like Altas will not be hit hard; but World, Southern and Kalitta are really going to get a gut punch.
10-07-2013 | 04:35 PM
#7023
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Apr 2012
Posts: 203
Likes: 0
From: I will be in the right bunk.
"Sully" and Jim Hall, Retired NTSB, Fault FAA For Lack Of Cargo Crew Flight Time Limitations.
A Tired Pilot Is a Tired Pilot, Regardless of the Plane
The FAA's fatigue rules should be the same for cargo jets as for passenger airlines. Otherwise, everyone is at risk.
By CHESLEY 'SULLY' SULLENBERGER AND JIM HALL
News broke recently that two pilots reported falling asleep while operating a long-haul Airbus 330 flight to the U.K. full of passengers. For an unknown length of time, autopilot kept the aircraft flying. Before the Aug. 13 flight, the pilots had slept only five hours over the previous two nights. The event brings yet another reminder of the dangers posed by fatigued pilots.
The Federal Aviation Administration will soon address the issue, implementing long-overdue new fatigue standards for pilots. But those requirements won't apply to cargo aircraft pilots, not even when they're flying a Boeing 747 halfway around the world. By excluding cargo pilots from its new rules, the FAA is failing to adhere to its mission of making safety the first priority in aviation. If the FAA believes even one life lost in an accident is too many, shouldn't that principle also apply to cargo pilots?
The cockpit of a Boeing 747-8 airliner is seen during the Paris Air Show in Paris, France, on Tuesday, June 21, 2011.
The new regulations revise hours-of-service rules that better reflect today's knowledge of human fatigue. The rules set a 10-hour minimum rest period before flight duty, a two-hour increase from the previous standards. This gives pilots a chance to get eight hours of sleep before a duty period instead of the five or six hours they so often get now. A pilot will also only be allowed so much flight duty time in a 28-day period. Pilots and the National Transportation Safety Board have sought these changes for decades, but it took the apparently fatigue-induced regional airliner crash near Buffalo, N.Y., in 2009 to finally prompt Congress to require changes. Cargo pilots need stringent regulation, as their jobs can be even more tiring than flying a passenger plane. A cargo pilot faces extreme demands-longer flights, more time zones crossed, and work scheduled overnight when they are least alert and perform worst.
Fatigue creeps up on pilots, slowly diminishing crucial mental capacity for decision-making. Reaction times slow down and situational awareness decreases as pilots tire. A 2013 survey by the British Airline Pilots Association showed that more than half of British pilots admitted to nodding off during flight, and that one in three said they awoke to find the other pilot asleep. The effects of fatigue resemble those of alcohol impairment, but they are much less measurable. The FAA can, however, still impose standards to prevent pilots from reaching exhaustion.
On Aug. 14, a UPS cargo airliner crashed on approach to Birmingham, Ala. The two pilots lost their lives. Although still under NTSB investigation, this flight fits the profile of countless cargo operations, including flying overnight. The aircraft crashed into an open field, but it easily could have crashed into a nearby neighborhood, or into any number of communities near airports all over the country-just as the plane that crashed in Buffalo did.
Yet the FAA sees no need to impose fatigue prevention rules on cargo pilots. The agency has made the ridiculous claim that such a rule would prevent only one cargo airliner crash in 10 years and save a mere $31 million in damages. Does anyone believe that if a cargo 747 or Airbus crashed near a major airport the financial impact would be so low? UPS, for one, doesn't. The major cargo carrier holds insurance of $1.5 billion for a single aircraft accident.
The FAA's analysis understates or ignores factors such as passengers aboard cargo aircraft, which can number as high as 10; the value of cargo on the aircraft; or deaths, injuries and damage on the ground. In 1992, a 747 cargo jet crashed into an apartment building shortly after takeoff from Amsterdam, killing the four people aboard the plane and 43 on the ground. Whether there are packages or people behind the cockpit door, pilot fatigue exists just the same. And it threatens the lives of pilots and bystanders on the ground alike.
Similar shortsightedness led the FAA in the 1990s to exempt cargo operations from rules requiring collision avoidance systems (called TCAS) on planes. Since cargo and passenger airliners share the same airspace and use the same runways, the purported safety benefits didn't exist. The terrible midair collision over India in 1996, which killed 349 people, woke the FAA up to the danger. Following that tragedy and a near miss between a cargo airliner and Air Force One in 1997, the FAA required cargo airliners to be equipped with the same anticollision software.
Everyone-including, eventually, the FAA-agreed in the 1990s that regional passengers deserve the same level of safety as those on major airliners, and that all aircraft should have collision warning systems. Pilot fatigue standards merit the same equitable application. Let's not wait for another disaster to catch the FAA's rule-making error.
Mr. Sullenberger, CBS News's aviation and safety expert and a retired airline pilot, is CEO of Safety Reliability Methods Inc. Mr. Hall, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, is the managing partner of Hall & Associates LLC, a safety consulting firm.
A Tired Pilot Is a Tired Pilot, Regardless of the Plane
The FAA's fatigue rules should be the same for cargo jets as for passenger airlines. Otherwise, everyone is at risk.
By CHESLEY 'SULLY' SULLENBERGER AND JIM HALL
News broke recently that two pilots reported falling asleep while operating a long-haul Airbus 330 flight to the U.K. full of passengers. For an unknown length of time, autopilot kept the aircraft flying. Before the Aug. 13 flight, the pilots had slept only five hours over the previous two nights. The event brings yet another reminder of the dangers posed by fatigued pilots.
The Federal Aviation Administration will soon address the issue, implementing long-overdue new fatigue standards for pilots. But those requirements won't apply to cargo aircraft pilots, not even when they're flying a Boeing 747 halfway around the world. By excluding cargo pilots from its new rules, the FAA is failing to adhere to its mission of making safety the first priority in aviation. If the FAA believes even one life lost in an accident is too many, shouldn't that principle also apply to cargo pilots?
The cockpit of a Boeing 747-8 airliner is seen during the Paris Air Show in Paris, France, on Tuesday, June 21, 2011.
The new regulations revise hours-of-service rules that better reflect today's knowledge of human fatigue. The rules set a 10-hour minimum rest period before flight duty, a two-hour increase from the previous standards. This gives pilots a chance to get eight hours of sleep before a duty period instead of the five or six hours they so often get now. A pilot will also only be allowed so much flight duty time in a 28-day period. Pilots and the National Transportation Safety Board have sought these changes for decades, but it took the apparently fatigue-induced regional airliner crash near Buffalo, N.Y., in 2009 to finally prompt Congress to require changes. Cargo pilots need stringent regulation, as their jobs can be even more tiring than flying a passenger plane. A cargo pilot faces extreme demands-longer flights, more time zones crossed, and work scheduled overnight when they are least alert and perform worst.
Fatigue creeps up on pilots, slowly diminishing crucial mental capacity for decision-making. Reaction times slow down and situational awareness decreases as pilots tire. A 2013 survey by the British Airline Pilots Association showed that more than half of British pilots admitted to nodding off during flight, and that one in three said they awoke to find the other pilot asleep. The effects of fatigue resemble those of alcohol impairment, but they are much less measurable. The FAA can, however, still impose standards to prevent pilots from reaching exhaustion.
On Aug. 14, a UPS cargo airliner crashed on approach to Birmingham, Ala. The two pilots lost their lives. Although still under NTSB investigation, this flight fits the profile of countless cargo operations, including flying overnight. The aircraft crashed into an open field, but it easily could have crashed into a nearby neighborhood, or into any number of communities near airports all over the country-just as the plane that crashed in Buffalo did.
Yet the FAA sees no need to impose fatigue prevention rules on cargo pilots. The agency has made the ridiculous claim that such a rule would prevent only one cargo airliner crash in 10 years and save a mere $31 million in damages. Does anyone believe that if a cargo 747 or Airbus crashed near a major airport the financial impact would be so low? UPS, for one, doesn't. The major cargo carrier holds insurance of $1.5 billion for a single aircraft accident.
The FAA's analysis understates or ignores factors such as passengers aboard cargo aircraft, which can number as high as 10; the value of cargo on the aircraft; or deaths, injuries and damage on the ground. In 1992, a 747 cargo jet crashed into an apartment building shortly after takeoff from Amsterdam, killing the four people aboard the plane and 43 on the ground. Whether there are packages or people behind the cockpit door, pilot fatigue exists just the same. And it threatens the lives of pilots and bystanders on the ground alike.
Similar shortsightedness led the FAA in the 1990s to exempt cargo operations from rules requiring collision avoidance systems (called TCAS) on planes. Since cargo and passenger airliners share the same airspace and use the same runways, the purported safety benefits didn't exist. The terrible midair collision over India in 1996, which killed 349 people, woke the FAA up to the danger. Following that tragedy and a near miss between a cargo airliner and Air Force One in 1997, the FAA required cargo airliners to be equipped with the same anticollision software.
Everyone-including, eventually, the FAA-agreed in the 1990s that regional passengers deserve the same level of safety as those on major airliners, and that all aircraft should have collision warning systems. Pilot fatigue standards merit the same equitable application. Let's not wait for another disaster to catch the FAA's rule-making error.
Mr. Sullenberger, CBS News's aviation and safety expert and a retired airline pilot, is CEO of Safety Reliability Methods Inc. Mr. Hall, former chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board, is the managing partner of Hall & Associates LLC, a safety consulting firm.
10-07-2013 | 06:34 PM
#7024
Derp...
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 386
Likes: 0
I wish Sully would go away. He made a mockery of the regional industry, he made a fortune with book sales, speaking engagements, consulting, and now he's knocking on the cargo world. He retired. I think he should go and enjoy that cash and his wife instead of hanging around like a turd that won't flush.
10-07-2013 | 08:09 PM
#7025
Line Holder
Joined: Dec 2010
Posts: 87
Likes: 0
From: 757 FO
I wish Sully would go away. He made a mockery of the regional industry, he made a fortune with book sales, speaking engagements, consulting, and now he's knocking on the cargo world. He retired. I think he should go and enjoy that cash and his wife instead of hanging around like a turd that won't flush.
10-07-2013 | 08:38 PM
#7027
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 118
Likes: 0
Thanks for the responses, I agree with most all those points Polar. If I had Atlas and UA in each hand the decision would be hard. If Atlas had higher pay and retirement contribution the decision would be easy. No reason ACMI has to equal low pay! On the fatigue issue, I say push it at every opportunity. Sully or not, it deserves more attention and improves the quality of our profession and our health, because it is real. Oh yeah, and saves lives!!!
10-08-2013 | 04:26 AM
#7028
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 3,215
Likes: 0
From: Capt
This is not meant as a jab, so seriously...are there many folks at Atlas who have left a legacy or major? And if by furlough, have made the choice to permanently bypass the recall? There are some real qualities of Atlas that would warrant such a decision.
Most pilots I have talked to from AA/UAL on furlough said they would wait until their last possible chance to go back, and then decide. A few double furloughees said they would not go back. Talked to one guy that could go back to UAL: He would make a lot more money (lifetime, with the present contracts in place) at UAL, but he loved flying at Atlas so had not gone back as of yet...he was a younger guy.
Quality of life: It depends. For some guys, Atlas has a better quality of life than the majors, for others, the majors are much better. It depends on what your definition of "Quality of life" means.
cliff
GRB
10-08-2013 | 03:13 PM
#7030
Gets Weekends Off
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 324
Likes: 0
From: Ex USAF, ex-ATA , currently Atlas Air 747 CA
Same as anyone else, my friend. Do what is best for you. For some, that will be continuing to fly an airplane around the planet with Atlas. For others, that will be moving on to something else. Neither choice is wrong; neither choice is the answer for everyone. Those who love this life and stay here are all the better for doing so. Those who would rather do otherwise because it better fits their life also come out ahead. The key is figuring out what it is you really want to do.
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