Pilot fatigue
 

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.

I appreciate that report but it didn't cover the whole regional aspect and there were some errors. Plus there was no indication that the pilots were fatigued they just described a stand up overnight which would mean they would end their day quickly in the AM.

I am unable to view the video, what did "news 5" uncover on that late night flight?

Another inane report by some hick so-called journalists. Riddled with inaccuracies. The jist is right, but the execution of the report was pathetic. Research for it was obviously non-existent. Just another attempt at an alarmist piece that falls flat. And BTW, everyone SHOULD be alarmed at what's going on at the regional AND major airlines. But this piece of rubbish actually hurts the cause more than helps it.

Nothing more than describe a typical Continuous Duty Overnight/High Speed/Standup. Other than trying to make that appear like a typical night, they accomplished very little.

While I'm all for a change in rest requirements, I happen to greatly enjoy highspeeds while I know others avoid them like the plague. All depends, I guess.

I was getting nervous that It was me on the video, I did 3075 MCW FOD highspeeds 2 days ago and all month this month. It gets into the hotel around 11:30pm with a 4:20 lobby time. On top of that, no shuttle, we have a crew car that we drive.

The crew car is better than a shuttle... no waiting!

True, unless both pilots are unfamiliar with how to get there, and gets lost. Ah wait, pilots are never lost. :eek:

Till the FMS goes Tango Uniform.....:D:D

Careful what you wish for...once the Feds get their hands in this, I see it becoming extremely difficult for commuters and those in base wanting more than 75 hours...there may be no legal way to fly more come this fall. Hell no am I writing a letter.

That is no joking matter, and sadly very, very true :sad:

The idea isn't to fly more.... it's to fly less, yet get paid the same or better for it.

This is why ALPA pushed for an ARC with ALPA members to write the NPRM.

Seven ALPA Pilots Chosen for FAA ARC

The FAA is undertaking a comprehensive review of flight-time and duty-time (FT/DT) regulations to better reflect current research on sleep, rest periods, and alertness. The next phase of the process in updating FT/DT rules is to convene an Aviation Rulemaking Committee (ARC), a group made up of representatives from labor, industry, and the FAA, who will draft the proposed changes. Seven ALPA pilots have been selected to participate in this endeavor. ALPA’s executive administrator, Capt. Don Wykoff, will co-chair the ARC. Other pilots who will serve include Capt. Bill Soer (FDX), Capt. Darrel Cox (MSA), Capt. Greg Whiting (UAL), and Capt. Michael Hynes (CAL). Capt. Matt Rettig (EGL) and Capt. Peter Davis (ASA) will act as alternates.

These gentlemen will be crucial in helping other ARC participants understand the practical applications of the rules and the pilot perspective.
ALPA has long been a proponent of updating FT/DT regulations to better reflect the existing science. In a recent statement, ALPA president Capt. John Prater said, “Considering that the pilot flight-time and rest rules in use today were created more than 60 years ago, it becomes immediately clear that we need a swift and innovative approach to modernizing these standards.”
http://public.alpa.org/portals/alpa/...0090717.htm#03

Absolutely, I'm certainly with you there! But to be real, that ain't gonna happen. This will be a paycut, folks...

And somebody please enlighten me as to why 60-year old rules are all of a sudden dangerous? Seems to me that flying has only gotten lightyears easier since then...Just because it's not new doesn't mean it's broken.

When were these 60 year old half ass, thrown together regs safe if scheduling holds you only to the minimum required by law.

Glad to see the U get involved. Only thing that was missing was Higgins speaking on the alpa fatigue studies.

My take on this is that in order for these rules to be valid they would have had to do some studies on flight crews and how fatigue affected them. If the studies are 60 years old then they obviously didn't have the same environment that we experience now. Somehow I think these limitations were set knowing that they would never even get close to those kinds of duty limits. I could be wrong but I don't think the average pilot had 5-6 leg days 60 years ago. Another thing I could be wrong about is the kind of weather they would fly in. I would think that 60 years ago there were probably many times when a flight couldn't dispatch due to low visibility. Now a days we fly things to some pretty low minimums and a few times a day might I add. Does anyone have a similar take on this?

Seeing Dana and Doc Jensen speak made me feel like i am back in there class rooms :o

Are you a little slow?

Actually in the DC3 days when these regs were written ,some local service lines were flying 8-9 legs a day,(aka old Frontier,Allegheny ,etc.),they hand flew in atrocious weather,and the old AN low frequency aural null approach and nav system got you down to 300 and 1,at EWR,and other stations.One of my old mentors told me during WW2 ,they would fly the old C47s under the hood till touchdown in training. No weather radar,tailwheel ops,round engine vibration ,and noise, multi leg days, I think they were well acquainted with fatigue.

Back then they were men...if a farmer cut off his finger, he would have asked his wife Thelma for a needle kit to try and sew it back on (my grandpa did that). I think back then they could fly 8 hrs with 16 hrs duty, get off work, then go straight to the farm to work. But I can't do that, I put band-aids on papercuts, and want 10 hrs of sleep....and I don't know how to sew.

What was the accident rate in 1949 per seat mile flown?

Open up the book "Fate is the Hunter" and read the four pages of names listing airline pilots killed and me again about the good old days when men were men.

it was the pioneering days of the profession,the risks were real,the flying epic.

horrendous

I see what you are saying, but I'm sure that wasn't every operation. And just like some other guys brought up that when they pushed it like you mentioned many people died. Yeah, maybe they didn't complain about it because they never knew how it could have been and I'm sure the studies were lacking during those times. So what has changed since then. Well I'm not speaking of anyone specifically but the skilled pilot has become more lacking skill and technology has gotten better. The trade off has only been technology which is used as a crutch. The same weather still exists, the same flight durations and segments still exist but we must now rely on technology. Seems that the lowest paid guys get the "S*&T" end of that stick where the technology is least seen and the critical phases of flight are most seen. Something must be done......

I think you're missing my point, those rules were created out of that demanding environment, more needs to be done, I flew 3s non-sched for 10 years,awesome flying, horrible lifestyle,I think I was fatigued for a decade. Fortunately my outfit was law abiding,and maintained the ships to the highest standard,but the rest rules were not adequate,from what I have heard ,thankfully this is going to be addressed. Never worked harder in my aeronautical life than behind the yoke of the Douglas.

To sum it up:

Regulations are written in blood.

True, as sad as it that that's what it takes to enact a change.

As far as changes to flight/duty time changes go, way to much blood. Just the most popular, AA/LIT, Corpex, and Colgan.

Curious how y'all would handle regulations? As far as I can see, without a crystal ball one would need to become aware of a problem before it could be dealt with. Unfortunately, the problem usually presents itself in the form of an incident, accident, or pilot deviation...I'm all for FAA bashing - lord knows I hate them more than anything, but please be fair!!

The wheels of the FAA turn sloooooowwwlllllllly.

Sorry, but can you really tell me that flight/duty times and fatigue are something that SHOULDN'T have been looked at till people were killed? I don't think in this day and age, where every bit of productivity is being squeezed out of crews it takes a crystal ball to see there would be a problem. Sadly, the FAA is generally reactive instead of proactive.

But I'm sure you've heard of ASAP before? I'm sure that's had influence on changing things. Maybe not always a reg, but I know there have been IAP's changed because of it.

We as front line employees see problems with regs all the time. In this particular example, one of the most egregious problems has to do with rest regs. While there are certainly companies who have taken it upon themselves to improve rest and duty POLICIES, not all have, and that is a HUGE safety risk.

You said it yourself Experimental: "these have worked for 60 years, why do we have to change them now?". Well, because they ARE a problem, and even if there hasn't been a major accident yet, what will you say when there IS an accident because of it? How safe do you feel when you're flying on 4 hours of sleep? Are you completely honest with IMSAFE everytime you fly?

Forget accidents, how many near-accidents or incidents have there been because of these rest and duty regs? Busted altitudes, missed clearances, TAs/RAs, runway incursions, etc. There HAVE been examples already with pilots falling asleep and having the autopilot fly the airplane to the destination and continue circling. There was a rash of these, what, a year ago? I find it hard to believe that there were three in a month, and then that it hasn't happened since. I think what is more likely is that the media got bored with the story. The other thing to worry about is micro-sleeping, where people fall asleep for a couple seconds or minutes, but don't realize it when they wake up. Microsleep | Microsleeps is a good source on it. The stick shaker went of for, what, 4 seconds before the pilots had any type of response? What's more likely, that two trained (even poorly trained) pilots did absolutely nothing while the stick shaker went off, or that two extremely sleep deprived and fatigued pilots had a micro sleep incident, were confused when they woke up, and ended up not being able to save the airplane? The most terrifying thing about microsleeping is that unless somebody TELLS you that you had an incident, you won't know it just happened.

I don't mean to pick on you Experimental, but your attitude is exactly why the FAA has problems with rule making. This is how a culture of blood rule making comes about. "It's worked until now, why not wait until it stops working to fix the problem?"

I'll tell you why it's worked until now (well, until recently):

1. The majors have had contractual duty and rest protections that went way above and beyond what the regs specify.

2. The regionals, which are by their nature much more personnel cost sensitive than their major partners, have had lower rest and duty protections, because they have traditionally been stepping stones.

3. The regionals have until recently been a minor part of the overall flying equation, and until recently you didn't have these "super-regionals" with thousands upon thousands of pilots like Skywest, RAH, etc.

4. Up until a couple years ago they had airplanes with three pilots in the cockpit.

5. Half of the time you speak of was under regulation.

6. The majors haven't had their contracts cut to the level today any time in those 60 years. Worse mainline contracts makes it harder to improve the regional contracts.

7. Airlines have never in the past 60 years asked so much from their crews in terms of the amount of productivity.

8. I could keep going, but you get the point. Oh hell, here's one more: security used to be non-existent, it was a two minute walk from the curb to the airplane, and the hotel was right across the street from the airport, not in a different county half an hour away.

So, like I said, they've worked over the last 60 years because those 60 years have been different that what they are now. We as front line employees have seen that we cannot trust management to come up with their own rest and duty regs, because especially in these times when all management seems to be focused on "short term get me my bonus management styles", we'll see them go for the cheapest possible solution, to hell with how unsustainable it is.

Well said!

Ditto for me, very well put...even I hadnt thought of some of the points you make

Are you saying the the FAA hasn't known about fatigue and its effects? Little Rock in '99 is just one other example that jumps out. Commentary: Is Fatigue Fatal? | Flight Today | Air & Space Magazine

The NTSB has been saying it for years and there are decades of scientific study on it. How long have you been on the line?

Is fatigue fatal?

Experimental, your attitude is unprofessional and apathetic. Your Skywest koolaid posts disgust the professional pilot, and me. The FAA has been aware of fatigue for years now, but safer regulations have been lobbied out of Congress by people like you... who think the status quo is ok.

Until we kill 50 people.

Were the regulations good enough here? Was the status quo good enough that night in Buffalo?


7/27
Additional Information Submitted To Colgan Air Dash-8 Public Docket
http://www.ntsb.gov/Dockets/Aviation...027/423395.pdf
CD List Of Contents

20:41:52.7
HOT-2

I mean if I call in sick now I've got to put myself in a hotel until I feel better.
you know we'll see how how it feels flying. if the pressure's just too much I
you know I could always call in tomorrow at least I'm in a hotel on the
company's buck but we'll see. I'm pretty tough.

20:41:31.1
HOT-?

[sound of sniffle]


20:41:34.5
HOT-2

oh I'm ready to be in the hotel room.


20:41:38.2
HOT-1

I feel feel feel bad for you as far as feeling **.


20:41:44.2
HOT-2

well this is one of those times that if I felt like this when I was at home
there's no way I would have come all the way out here. but now that I'm
out here.



21:06:43.5
HOT-2

yeah. no we're not. we want to give it— we want to do a lot more
travelling. although gosh I'm so freaking mad. I feel like Colgan walks all
over me. this company treats me like crap so much.