The Regional Airline Association (RAA) has embarked on a new safety initiative with the formation of a new safety advisory board as US Congressional hearings on regional aviation safety continue in the aftermath of the fatal Colgan Air Bombardier Q400 crash.
The RAA says it will form a task force comprised of safety directors and operations directors from its 31 member carriers to review current safety procedures and any accident contributing factors identified by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
RAA will also commission a study on the impact of fatigue and other human factors on pilot performance and create a fatigue awareness management program for its member airlines.
"There is a lot of new fatigue science," RAA president Roger Cohen said today during a subcommittee hearing of the Senate commerce, science and transportation committee. It was the second Senate hearing on the Q400 crash and regional airline safety in two weeks.
Senator Amy Klobuchar appears to prefer more immediate action regarding current fatigue rules versus conducting another study.
There already is a lot of knowledge about the impact of sleep deprivation on job performance, she says. Klobuchar adds that while she is not opposed to more research, she is pleased that FAA administrator Randy Babbitt has said he would like to introduce new fatigue rules in coming months.
As fatigue was one subject of the NTSB investigation of the Colgan crash - both the captain and first officer involved in the crash commuted to work from out of state - the RAA highlighted the possibility of airlines conducting random fatigue tests similar to the required random drug and alcohol testing of pilots.
In addition, the trade group suggest Congress examine commuting, "including the possibility of limiting commuting time prior to beginning a work assignment," Cohen says in his written testimony.
Commuting limitations may face opposition from labour groups.
"We have to take a close look at the system that has created this," says Capt John Prater, president of the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA), explaining that commuting is sometimes the result of airlines closing and opening domiciles on a regular basis.
Other RAA recommendations to Congress include that FAA maintain a single, integrated database of pilot records to improve the pilot hiring and training process and that the required records review period be extended from five years to 10 years.
One current advisory circular suggests that carriers ask a job applicant to sign a consent form to grant airlines access to the prospective hire's entire airman certification file, including notices of disapproval for flight checks for certificates and ratings. However, the review of FAA records is not mandatory and the Pilot Records Improvement Act (PRIA) of 1996 only requires any company hiring a pilot for air transportation to request and receive records from employers from the past five years.
Prater says PRIA can be improved upon as pilot history and performance records are necessary "but don't look at that as the entire story. We're constantly going through training."
The captain involved in the Colgan crash had three FAA certificate disapprovals involving flight checks conducted before his employment with Colgan but he disclosed only one on his Colgan job application. He was also hired before the FAA issued the current records advisory circular.
As has been suggested by Colgan since the crash, RAA has proposed using cockpit voice recordings (CVRs) for more than accident investigation tools.
"If there is a tool out there that can be used to help prevent accidents, and we are not even touching it, that is a real tragedy," Cohen says.
CVR review is currently limited to accident investigations and ALPA has expressed reservations about extending CVR use.
"We're talking Band-Aids here. We need to look at the system," Prater says.
Prater's and Cohen's remarks come as Senator Byron Dorgan says he would like to hold a safety hearing with representatives from regional airlines as no individual carrier participated in today's event or last week's Senate hearing.
Colgan vice president of safety and regulatory compliance Dan Morgan did speak at last week's House aviation subcommittee hearing.
The hearings follow a 12 February Colgan accident in which a turboprop stalled and went out of control on approach to Buffalo, New York. The aircraft crashed into a house about 9km (5nm) from the airport, killing all 49 on board and one person on the ground.
Cockpit discipline, pilot records, training, fatigue and low pilot salaries have been among the targets of the Congressional hearings.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
