Agencies representing US pilots and airlines are clashing over flight-deck crew working hours. Air Line Pilot Association president Duane Woerth has hit out a move by the Air Transport Association (ATA) to ask the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to put off the rigid interpretation of pilot fatigue rules that the agency promised last month it would enforce. Woerth describes the Air Transport Association (ATA) petition as "a blatantly hypocritical collection of distortions and half-truths attempting to camouflage naked greed". In January the ATA launched a court challenge to the FAA's official interpretation of the pilot fatigue and duty-time legislation. At issue is the FAA's belief that pilots working for US airlines must not be on duty for more than 16hr in any 24hr period.
By challenging this view, the ATA and its member airlines are lobbying to have pilots work longer than 16hr in a day and potentially to start work again less than 8hr later. The ATA also charges the FAA with "inflicting irreparable harm on air carriers" by insisting on enforcing its reading of the pilot fatigue rules, which the ATA had already begun challenging in the courts in January. The association claims compliance with the FAA interpretation of the rules "is causing, and will continue to cause, flight cancellations and delays" because strict enforcement magnifies the disruptions caused by "unpredictable and unavoidable" severe weather and ATC delays. Woerth responds: "If passengers are looking for someone to blame (for delays), it would be the airlines with their cheeseparing attempts to get by without hiring enough pilots." The ATA also alleges that "the FAA's action threatens safety" by potentially taking pilots' minds off pre-flight safety functions to calculate if, after an unexpected departure delay, they still comply with duty-time rules. "Tell that to the victims if we have a fatigue-related accident because of these ATA stalling tactics," Woerth counters.
Source: Flight Daily News
