As long as the FAA allows 16-hour duty days I will not believe for one second that they are interested in the fatigue/safety relationship. This is the single most absurd allowance in all of aviation in my opinion.

Guess you have never flown in some of the under developed parts of the world. Cruise flight over there can be quite mading with all of the radio changes, hard to understand accents, non-radar and using HF while still overland. It the noise and vibration that adds to ones fatigue issues.

From http://www.faa.gov/about/mission/


Mission

Our Mission
Our mission is to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world.

Our Vision
Our vision is to improve the safety and efficiency of aviation, while being responsive to our customers and accountable to the public.
Our Values

* Safety is our passion. We're world leaders in aerospace safety.
* Quality is our trademark. We serve our country, our customers, and each other.
* Integrity is our character. We do the right thing, even if no one is looking.
* People are our strength. We treat each other as we want to be treated.


:rolleyes: What a crock.

I think what should be kept in mind is the FAR's are LIMITS. We don't operate to our LIMITS. We only flex to our LIMITS for brief periods for operational necessity. Management that interprets the limit as a TARGET is mis-applying the intent of the FAR's and the FAA needs to step in and set things straight. If they don't they are shirking their duty. Have some balls and do the right thing...not just the easy thing.

I've been all over the americas...some centers are a lot busier than others, Indy for example is a WAY more hectic than mazatlan. I'm from california....I find the NY center accents pretty hard to decipher :rolleyes:

But I was really talking about domestic flight rules...obviously trans-oceanic rules would need to be addressed differently by folks who know about it.

The noise and vibration was a real factor back when they were flying prop airliners below the flight levels (when the regs were written), but today it's only an issue for older turboprops. If you fly a jet with a noisy cockpit, blow $400 bucks on an ANR headset...it REALLY does reduce fatigue. For me it's the difference between going out (or working out) on the overnight vs. going to bed.

Well said.....