In December, the Federal Aviation Administration announced new rules aimed at combating the problem of pilot fatigue. The new rules do contain some proposals that California plane crash lawyers have been calling for, but fall short of a complete and targeted program to eliminate the problem of fatigue and its role in plane crashes.
According to the new rules, pilots will be required to have a 10-hour rest period before they report for duty. That is in contrast to earlier regulations, which required pilots to have just 8 hours of rest before they reported for duty. The new rules also include an increase in the number of consecutive free hours that pilots enjoy to 30 hours per week. According to the Federal Aviation Administration, if a pilot reports that he is tired, then he must be removed from duty.
However, the rule ignores some core issues that are linked to pilot fatigue. The rule by the Federal Aviation Administration does not attack the root causes of fatigue. Under the new rules, pilots must take personal responsibility for getting the required amount of rest, and reporting for duty fit and fresh. That is not always possible especially for regional carrier pilots, because these pilots are typically paid lower salaries, and may not be able to afford housing close to their workstations in the major cities.
A case in point is the crash of a Colgan Air flight in 2009 that killed 50 people, including 49 passengers. That crash was linked to pilot fatigue, and one of the underlying reasons for the fatigue in that case, was that the pilot and copilot had to travel many hours with little time to sleep, before they could report to their hubs. According to a study by the National Research Council, approximately 20% of airline pilots in the country lived more than 750 miles from their workstation. These are complex issues that ultimately contribute to pilot fatigue, and any rule that doesn’t take them into consideration is bound to have a limited impact on safety.
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