Personal Injury Law

FAA proposes new pilot schedule regulations

By Ryan Bradley, Esq.

The Federal Aviation Administration is looking to change regulations regarding pilot schedules as a way of reducing both pilot fatigue and the risk of a serious plane crash.

Some of the proposed changes include:

-Pilots can only spend a maximum of 13 consecutive hours on duty, including time between flights in airports. The current maximum is 16 hours.
-The maximum on duty hours for pilots flying overnight shift would be reduced to 9 hours.
-Airline schedules would have to give nine hours rest for pilots between work days, which is an increase from the current eight hours.

If approved, these would be the first changes to pilot scheduling regulation in two decades.

This proposal comes just two years after motor carrier regulations were changed and the hours of service for truck drivers were reduced in an effort to prevent tractor trailer crashes.

As with the changes to the trucking laws, the same arguments are being made on both sides of the pilot scheduling debate. Airlines are worried about how the new regulations will affect profits due to the fact that they will likely need to hire more pilots or reduce the number of flights to comply with the rules. Regulators acknowledge there will be an adjustment period, but argue that the increases in safety will benefit the industry overall.

Full post as published by Missouri Accident Lawyer Blog on September 11, 2010 (boomark / email).