Flight and Duty Regulations and the Differences Between the Airlines and Cargo Carriers

As a result of the findings from the Colgan Air accident the FAA instituted many new regulations. One of the major regulations that were changed involved flight and duty time. The new rules pertaining to commercial passenger flights is multi faceted. The FAA limited the flight time to eight or nine hours depending on when the day started, a 10-hour minimum rest period that included 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep, and new cumulative flight duty and flight time limits by placing weekly and 28-day limits on how many times a pilot can be assigned any sort of flight duty (FAA, 2011). This is an improvement on the old regulation that only had an 8-hour rest period that had no stipulation on how the pilot must use that rest period, other than not for any type of flight duty. Additionally, under the old regulation pilots were allowed to be on duty up to 16 hours straight. However, with these old regulations there were numerous crashes due to unfit pilots. FAA Acting Administrator Huerta stated, “Every pilot has a personal responsibility to arrive at work fit for duty. This new rule gives pilots enough time to get the rest they really need to safely get passengers to their destinations.” (FAA, 2011).

While the new duty rest periods have greatly enhanced the quality of life for airline pilots, the cargo carriers fall outside of these regulations. This leaves the cargo pilots operating under worse conditions than the airline pilots. “Under the new rules, passenger pilots can only work nine hours if any of their flights are at night. But cargo pilots can work 16 hours.” (Pegues, 2015). This longer workday is compounded with the fact that most cargo pilots are flying at night against their natural circadian rhythm. “A year and a half ago, UPS Airlines Flight 1354 crashed in Birmingham, Alabama. Both pilots were killed and the plane narrowly missed a neighborhood. Flight 1354's captain Cerea Beal told a colleague that his flight schedule was killing him.” (Pegues, 2015). These types of accidents are unacceptable and the FAA has implemented a solution, but excluded the cargo carriers from having to implement it. This lack of implementation of the proper safety standards is egregious.

            Cargo carriers are excluded from the new changes because of the cost and lost revenue. The lobbyists were able to convince lawmakers that the cost of implementing these changes would not have enough of a safety improvement. “The FAA, meanwhile, has revised its economic rationale behind exempting cargo pilots, saying it would cost the industry $550 million to comply, outweighing safety benefits. Originally, it said the rules would cost an additional $214 million”. (Carroll, 2014). The FAA has followed suit in this theory that the safety benefits do not warrant such a price tag. However, this thinking is ludicrous and is perpetuated by the fact that if a cargo carrier crashes there are fewer souls on board that would parish compared to an airline crash. When it comes to overall pilot safety this is not a viable solution for cargo pilots. “Capt. Lee Moak, president of the Air Line Pilots Association International, which represents almost 50,000 pilots at 31 airlines, including UPS competitor FedEx, said that ‘it is becoming more apparent that separate rest requirements for cargo and passenger pilots is unsustainable, unsupportable, and unconscionable.’” (Carroll, 2014).

            I believe that cargo carriers should be included in the new rules. The cargo pilots would greatly benefit from the implementation of the new regulation. However, that’s not to say that there aren’t new issues that arise with how the cargo operators fly versus the airlines. There should be a distinction between the two types of operators. However, while those issues get hashed out the new flight and duty regulations for the airlines is a great place to start for the cargo carriers. The distinction should be made between the two types of operators because they need to take into account the types of flying the cargo operators do, which is mostly at night. There should be some studies done on how operating under the new rules mainly at night affects the pilots and adjust from there.

            This new rule would impact my long-term goal of being a pilot for FedEx. The increase of rest for pilots will greatly improve the quality of my life while working for FedEx. Additionally, it will allow cargo pilots the best environment to operate efficiently and safely. Lastly, it would remove the negative stigma associated with flying freight by improving the typical day as a cargo pilot.  Without the stigma, becoming a cargo pilot would be more attractive to new pilots, and would increase the potential pilots for cargo operations.

References

Carroll, J. R. (2014, March 13). UPS pilots urge more rest for cargo crews. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/13/ups-pilots-urge-more-rest-for-cargo-crews/6402615/

FAA. (2011, December 21). Press Release – FAA Issues Final Rule on Pilot Fatigue. Retrieved from https://www.faa.gov/news/press_releases/news_story.cfm?newsId=13272

Pegues, J. (2015, February 24). Investigation: Why are cargo pilots excluded from new rest rules? Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/investigation-why-are-cargo-pilots-excluded-from-new-rest-rules/