Should cargo carriers be exempt from
flight/duty changes? As a result of the Colgan Air Accident, the FAA
implemented new flight and duty regulations to mitigate the risk of fatigue for
aircrews. The regulation incorporates restrictions on flight hours, and it also
implements more stringent rest requirements. Among many other things, the new
regulation mandates a 10-hour period of rest, with the intention of giving
pilots at least 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep within that amount of time. The
old regulation had more lax flight hour requirements based on the day and year,
whereas the new rule limits flight hours in accordance with the week, month,
and per years (Houston, 2017). The FAA has established an exemption for cargo
carriers under the Part 117 rules. Limitations vary on the time the pilot
begins their day, and incorporates certain limits on flight time when the plane
is moving under its own power before, during, or after flight. Additionally, cargo
carriers have improved their rest facilities for crewmembers (PNG, 2013).
I
believe that cargo carriers have been excluded from the new changes as a result
of the cost that it would take to
fulfill that standard. It can cost approximately $297 million to implement the
new rule for passenger pilots, which we can all agree is an astronomical price.
That being said, there is a greater opportunity of a cost benefit ranging close
to $500 million; an opportunity the air cargo industry is not equally
susceptible to (PNG, 2013).
I
do not believe cargo carriers should be included in the new rules. Safety
should always be a factor and a concern, whether a pilot is transporting one
person, one hundred, or just boxes. People will argue that it’s more important
for an airline pilot to be concerned about safety because they’re transporting
people, but even a pilot transporting household goods has the potential to
destroy hundreds of people if that aircraft were to experience a crash. Safety
should always be a factor and every
pilot should take all necessary precautions, but I do believe the requirements
are little too strict for cargo
carriers. Air cargo pilots differ from passenger pilots in many ways, to
include running shorter flights and operating at various times throughout the
night, so the requirements should reflect their operation without compromising
safety.
If the cargo carriers were to be included
in the new rules, companies and personnel would suffer significantly. The
preexisting gap of qualified pilots would increase for cargo carriers,
subsequently resulting in a lack of productivity for companies. From a
management perspective, companies would suffer from a loss of personnel and it
would drastically decrease their reputation and product output.
References
Houston, S. (2017, November 17).
FAA’s Final Rule for Pilot Duty and Rests Requirements. Retrieved from https://www.thebalance.com/faa-final-rule-pilot-duty-and-rest-requirements-282927
PNG Logistics
(2013, January 29). Rest Requirements For Air Cargo Pilots. Retrieved from
http://pnglc.com/rest-requirements-for-air-cargo-pilots/
I like how brief you made your blog. I agree with your opinions, in fact I share them. One of the main things I picked is that if they need to regulate the cargo industry, they need to do so in a way that suits their operations. The clear distinctions between the airlines and cargo should make it so they can't abide by the same restrictions.
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