AP: Pilot Fatigue to be Addressed
 

Hi!

Here is the link:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090901/...dydWxlc2NvbWk-

The article is basically summarizing the current situation with regards to the Flight/Duty time revision process.

Quote:
The advisory committee on pilot fatigue was expected to deliver its recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration late Tuesday.
Quote:
Some members of Congress don't trust the FAA to finally come to grips with the problem. A bill under consideration in the House would force the agency's hand. It also would require airlines to use fatigue risk management systems — complex scheduling programs that alert a company to potential problems.
After the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved the bill last month, Chairman James Oberstar ran through a list of airline crashes in recent decades.
"The common thread running through all of it is fatigue," said Oberstar, D-Minn. "We have many experiences of the flight crew, the cabin crew, who in cases of emergency were just so numb they couldn't respond instantly to a tragedy at hand."
cliff
NBO

I wonder if these new regulations might actually force larger work forces? Probably not, but it depends on how airlines want to handle more restrictive work rules. They can either cut more flights (likely), or add more pilots (unlikely).

Prepare for 60 hour lines with 11 days off and 16 hour layovers everywhere

What a coincidence, that's the exact line I have this month!

In the long run, they likely will although short-term the airlines might just cut schedules a bit.

The 20,000 question is will these rules reduce significantly productivity, forcing more work days for less pay?

Something needs to change. Train conductors have way better rest requirements than pilots. In my opinion, they also need to limit the number of legs we can do in a day. There's no way in hell that an 8-leg day is safe for anybody.

Yep, life is going to suck. Pilots are going to pay in terms of QOL. There is nothing here that is good news for pilots.

Even though we all don't want to be paid less lets not forget this is about safety. We've all been pushed to the limits duty wise and I for one think its downright dangerous if done more than once in a great while. Some of the regionals out there push their crews to the limit day in and day out all while sleeping on airplanes overnight and being paid nothing.

Our unions have always been the ones to set days off and pay so they are the ones we need to turn to now and ensure that our QOL doesn't slip because the government is trying to make our jobs a little bit safer.

I think 5 should be max.

You betcha. Law of unintended consequences will come to bite us big on this one. Prepare to be gone more for less pay and fewer of these jobs. I doubt there will be a mass hiring wave because of changes, more likely will be reduced capacity (park more airplanes) to shrink to a sustainable size.