According to FARs 14 CFR Part 121 section 471 it states that
no certificate holder conducting domestic operations may schedule any flight
crew member and no flight crew member may accept an assignment for flight time
in scheduled air transportation or in other commercial flying if that crew
members total time in all commercial flying will exceed 1,000 hours in any
calendar year, 100 hours in a calendar month, 30 hours in a 7-day time period,
9 hours between rest period. (14cfr121.471)
They say that many regulations that we have in the aviation
industry are written in blood, so in a terrible way we can thank Colgan Air for
the duty hours and regulations. If it was not for Colgan Air we would probably
still have exhausted and over worked pilots and the risk for more accidents
would be more likely to occur.
Cargo pilots are allowed to fly up to 8 hours (as opposed to
9 hours for passenger carriers under their rules) then legally must have a rest
period. In a situation where there are
three crew members or more, cargo pilots may fly up to 12 hours. While, cargo pilots may be on duty for 16
hours, under no circumstance do they ever fly 16 hours without rest. There is a very big difference between being
on duty and actual flight time flying the aircraft. These are base line rules – the labor
management contract allows for even more rest, but it’s specific to each
all-cargo carrier.(Sen. Boxer)
I believe that when it comes to flying the general public
believes that lives are more valuable compared to boxes of freight. Another
reason is the financial aspect of it all. According to Linda Werfelman,
"The FAA, however, said that that the cost of including cargo operators
under the new rule would have been too great, compared with the benefits they
would have likely received (2012). The FAA analyzed the cost of including cargo
carriers in the rules and they said it would cost cargo carriers $306 million
(CAA 2012). According to the Cargo Airline Association, the FAA ranged the
benefits at $20.35 million to $32.55 million (2012). The costs of implementing
the rules would really hurt the cargo industry whose operations are done 24/7.
In addition to these financial numbers, the average hours per month at a cargo
operation is 45.5 hours and the passenger carrier operation has an average of
over 50 hours per month (CAA 2012).
Cargo is also a precious commodity due to freight needing to
be delivered due to operations are always being ran 24/7. It would bring down
production value due to lack of resources.
I believe that cargo operations should be able to follow
different rules due to the fact that there is multiple crew members on board so
they will be able to rotate and they are able to fly with different flight
rules so it allows for them to fly different routes.
Also If I become a dispatcher for a 121 operation I do not
really believe that it will have an impact on my career but if I do dispatch
for a 135 operation and do the cargo side it might make job openings more
scarce and competitive.
Resources
FAA Federal Aviation Regulations (FARs, 14 CFR).(nd).
Retrieved October 08, 2016,
from
http://www.flightsimaviation.com/data/FARS/part_121-471.html
Senator Barbara Boxer, April 13th 2016, retrieved from
http://www.cargoair.org/2016/04/setting-the-record-straight-on-all-cargo-duty-and-rest-amendment/
on October 6th 2016
CAA. (2012, January 17). Flightcrew member duty and rest
requirements. Retrieved October 07,
2016, from
http://www.cargoair.org/2012/01/flightcrew-member-duty-rest-requirements/
Carroll, J. R. (2014, March 13). UPS pilots urge more rest
for cargo crews. Retrieved October
07, 2016, from
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/03/13/ups-pilots-urge
more-rest-for-cargo-crews/6402615
I think what you said about the general public valuing lives more than freight is an important point in why cargo carriers are excluded. I agree with this viewpoint (freight can be replaced, but a human life cannot), and, coupled with the financial problems associated with implementing this regulations, can understand why they were not included. However, there are still human lives involved in a cargo flight (even if not as many), and as such, I think some form of “middle ground” could be reached to still ensure cargo pilots are not operating in a fatigued state.
ReplyDeleteAfter the new regulations, the cargo operators were saying how much they could possibly lose if they acted on the new regulations, but there is also the safety option of having the pilots have more rest. However, the airline and cargo operations operate on vastly different schedules, which means something that works for one may not work for the other.
ReplyDeleteI also believe cargo should be held under a different set of rules because they operate differently than passenger operations. Bus and truck drivers operate under different regulations even though they use the same roads.
ReplyDelete