“FAA proposes tighter rules to prevent pilot fatigue”

FAA proposes tighter rules to prevent pilot fatigue

Posted: 11 Sep 2010 05:27 AM PDT

WASHINGTON -- The Federal Aviation Administration, reacting to the pilot-induced crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407 in Clarence 19 months ago, Friday proposed rules aimed at preventing airline pilots from flying while fatigued.

"This proposal is a significant enhancement for aviation safety," said Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, who, with FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt, repeatedly cited the Clarence crash in announcing the proposal. "Both pilots and passengers will benefit from these proposed rules."

In particular, the proposed rules would:

* Ensure that pilots have nine hours of rest prior to duty, up from the current eight hours.

* Establish a new way of measuring the rest period that would make sure pilots have the opportunity to sleep for eight hours before a flight.

* Guarantee pilots 30 consecutive hours off every week -- a 25 percent increase from the current standard.

* Set new weekly and monthly limits on flight duty time.

* Establish different rest requirements based on the time of flights, the number of flights a pilot is making in a given day, and other factors.

Calling the day after the Clarence crash, which claimed 50 lives, "the worst day I've had in this job," LaHood credited the Families of Continental Flight 3407 for pushing for tougher pilot fatigue rules, which had languished in a bureaucratic black hole since the mid-1990s.

"They've given us a lot of wind behind our sails to do what we're doing here today," LaHood said of the families. "We owe them a special debt of gratitude."

The families issued a statement cautiously lauding the FAA effort.

"Secretary LaHood and Administrator Babbitt have made these new flight and duty time regulations their top priority from Day One, and we applaud them for today's release of the proposed rule," the families' statement said. "In terms of the guidelines themselves, we look forward to reviewing the proposal very closely in the upcoming days."

The new rules, which would replace standards originally drawn up in the 1940s, are based on research on how much rest the human body needs, along with how particular flight schedules affect pilots.

"What this rule is based on is hard science, and that's what's been lacking in the past," Babbitt said.

A degree of compromise But the proposal is also the result of compromise among the FAA, airlines and pilot unions, and the level of compromise was clear in some of the proposal's details.

While extending pilot rest periods, the proposal also would allow airlines to schedule pilots for 10 hours of flying time if they start their work day between 7 a.m. and 1 p.m. That's two hours more than what's currently permitted.

The families said they "will be examining these aspects of the guidelines with great interest."

And one of their allies in the fight for tougher safety standards -- Jeff Skiles, co-pilot of the "Miracle on the Hudson" USAirways flight -- harshly criticized the part of the proposal that could extend a pilot's work day.

"The insidious problem of pilot fatigue cannot be fought by increasing the amount of time pilots fly in the cockpit," said Skiles, vice president of the Coalition of Airline Pilot Associations.

The proposal also does not include any hard and fast rules aimed at limiting pilots from commuting thousands of miles overnight from their homes to their work stations -- which is just what the pilot and co-pilot of Flight 3407 did the night before the crash.

Facing concerns about commuting rules from pilot unions and the industry, the FAA instead is suggesting bolstering training in fatigue management and responsible commuting.

While Skiles was critical of the proposal, many other interested parties withheld comment until they had a chance to examine the proposal in more detail.

"We'll start our analysis this afternoon," said Capt. John Prater, president of the Air Line Pilots Association, the largest pilot union.

Meanwhile, David A. Castelveter, spokesman for the airlines' lobbying group, said: "The Air Transport Association has long been on record in support of pilot rest and fatigue management rules that are science-based, effective and crafted to truly improve safety. We will be evaluating the FAA pilot fatigue rule against that standard and will be guided accordingly."

And the Regional Airline Association -- which represents commuter airlines like Colgan Air, the Continental subcontractor that operated Flight 3407 -- said in a statement that it supports the FAA's approach of allowing pilots more rest while giving airlines more scheduling flexibility.

The National Transportation Safety Board voted 2-1 against including fatigue as a probable cause of the Flight 3407 crash, which it blamed on pilot error.

A top priority Nevertheless, a flight voice recording that showed the crew yawning, and revelations that neither pilot slept in a bed the night before the flight, made a new fatigue rule a top FAA priority.

The proposal would replace a set of archaic rules that are "really very bad," said Bill Voss, president of the nonprofit Flight Safety Foundation. He noted that the old rules don't even recognize "the difference between night and day."

Voss said Babbitt had done a good job in striking a compromise on the fatigue rules.

"Both sides are likely to be happy with this," he said.

The introduction of the proposal starts a 60-day public comment period. The FAA then will try to incorporate those comments in a final rule that, under law, must be completed by next August.

"We're looking at these regulations closely and will consult frequently with the 3407 families on them," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y. "If there are changes that need to be made, we will lobby the FAA to make them."

Then again, the airline industry and pilot unions will likely be doing the same. And amid complaints from both sides, the FAA quietly buried the last attempt to redraw the fatigue rules in the mid-1990s.

"Let me emphasize again that it is long past time to complete this work," said Rep. Jerry F. Costello, the Illinois Democrat who chairs the House Aviation Subcommittee. "This time the FAA must get the job done."

News wire services contributed to this report.

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