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Federal safety panel proposes ‘fatigue management’

Wonder how long its going to take for these proposed regulations to filter down to SA, the Link,1 Time and Comair drivers could well do with some more FDP relief.

Quote:

June 10th, 2008
Federal safety panel proposes ‘fatigue management’ for sleepy pilots
Posted: 08:55 PM ET
From CNN’s Paul Courson

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Federal safety experts hope to scale back the maximum workday allowed for airline pilots and implement other “fatigue management” programs in response to recent accidents linked to a flight crew’s lack of sleep.

The National Transportation Safety Board Tuesday concluded pilot fatigue was a probable cause in a runway landing accident last winter during bad weather in Michigan involving Pinnacle Airlines Flight 4712. There were no fatalities.

And in February, the cockpit crew of a passenger plane operated by Mesa Airlines failed to answer air traffic controllers for 18 minutes, missed the flight’s destination in Hawaii and continued another 15 miles at 21,000 feet over the Pacific Ocean, apparently because the two pilots fell asleep.

Yeah, if a pilot flies to the limit of what is allowed by the law on a constant basis, he/she will be a walking zombie. Or maybe I should say a walking, pissed-off zombie, since they'll also have no personal life. Companies of course, don't know this - sometimes the legal limit is treated as the target, which is a mistake. But by putting it in black and white, companies are invited to abuse it, with no recourse available to the crew.