FAA retools rules to keep pilots trained, refreshed
Fueled by a deadly crash, the FAA is retooling rules to keep pilots trained and feeling refreshed, greatly affecting airline operations.
By Michael Booth and Ann Schrader
The Denver Post
Posted: 07/05/2009
A Federal Aviation Administration mandate for the rapid overhauling of pilot training and scheduling, prompted by outcries from February's deadly commuter crash near Buffalo, N.Y., could force major changes in how regional and major U.S. airlines operate.
The fast-track rewriting of air safety rules will pry open pilot performance reviews, alter schedules from rigid eight-hour shifts to a more flexible system based on sleep science, and push major carriers into a watchdog role with their commuter airline partners.
Safety officials have pressed for such a transformation since the mid-1990s, yet U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in Denver last week that the reforms will happen this time because of the "terrible, terrible,
"The airline industry has gotten it. The people who fly their planes have gotten it," LaHood said in a meeting with the editorial board of The Denver Post. The airlines, LaHood said, "know what needs to be done, so they need to get with it."
The FAA offensive, spurred by investigators' concerns that the Buffalo pilots were fatigued, underpaid and poorly trained, promises change at carriers ranging from giant United to bankrupt Frontier to the little-known regionals like Mesaba that fly more than 50 percent of U.S. flights.
It also signals acceptance of decades-long warnings from researchers that pilot fatigue is a safety threat and can be attacked by new rules and better management. Experts liken the coming cockpit revolution to when drunken driving changed from a minor offense to a societal priority.
"Fatigue is the new alcohol problem. People are just starting to realize how dangerous it is," said John Caldwell, an international consultant to governments and industry on pilot medical issues.
Denver to host workshop
The Buffalo crash of Continental Connection Flight 3407, operated by Colgan Air, killed 50 people on Feb. 12. It was the latest in a string of six fatal and several other serious accidents among regional carriers, each raising safety and fatigue questions.
Congressional hearings in mid-June pounded away at the pay structures, training regimens and safety practices of regional airlines, which carry 38 percent of Denver International Airport's traffic. Researchers also told Congress that new safety and duty rules could improve the performance at all airlines, small or big.
The FAA quickly ordered newly formed committees to write rules by Sept. 1, and Denver will host one of 10 regional workshops between the airlines, pilot and employee groups, and regulators.
Experts and industry sources say the safety overhaul will focus on a few key areas:
• The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board want airlines to have free access to reports of pilot failures on "check rides," where FAA-approved inspectors determine competency, before hiring a pilot or at specified intervals during the pilot's career.
The Pilot Records Improvement Act of 1996 requires a hiring airline to request and evaluate information about a pilot's training and experience before hire. The pilot must give written consent to release the information, and if the waiver isn't given, the airline can cite failure to give full disclosure in denying employment.
If a pilot fails a check ride while employed by an airline, the information is provided to the airline because under FAA regulations the pilot cannot fly until after retraining and proficiency is demonstrated.
National Transportation Safety Board investigators said the Colgan pilot had four check-ride failures before employment but had disclosed only one of them when he was hired.
• Since 1995, the FAA sought but failed to revise pilot flight schedules to reflect modern science on stress, fatigue, sleep patterns and actual flight conditions. Backing from Congress may finally force revisions to current rules, even though both pilots and carriers resist certain changes. A full application of "sleep science" may require that consumers accept the idea of pilots napping in cockpits, or using Ambien and other sleep drugs to help readjust their bodies for optimal alertness.
Flight rules may for the first time reflect the time and energy it takes for far-flung pilots to commute to the beginning of their shift. Many pilots use DIA as a commuting station to flights that might begin in New York, Florida or California.
• Major carriers will have to play Big Brother to their regional airline partners by overseeing more training and additional safety checks, despite economic pressures on commuter carriers to fly cheaply.
• Consumers who demand rock-bottom ticket prices may face higher fares to pay for better pilot training, altered shifts that force more crew hiring, and airline costs for software management systems or new supervisors.
"Safety has to come before economics," said Paul Rice, vice president of the Air Line Pilots Association, representing 54,000 professional pilots.
"Regional airlines are safe, but there also is no question that it can be done better," Rice said.
Pay, training discrepancies
Safety and skill gaps at regional airlines will be hot spots for regulators in the coming months. The FAA has already announced tighter reviews of pilot training at regional carriers, which pay crews far less than mainline carriers and in the past have required less flying experience for new pilots.
Airline pilots on large jets can earn about $125,000 a year, a congressional staff report said, while regional captains earn $70,000 to $82,000. First officers, the second flier in the cockpit, start at only $24,000 a year at Colgan and other carriers.
New rules and industry pressure, meanwhile, may level some of the variances in pilot experience currently required by different airlines.
The FAA mandates the same minimum flying experience for new pilots at regional and major airlines: at least 250 hours of flight time for a commercial pilot certificate and 1,500 hours for an air transport pilot certificate to act as a pilot in command. Hiring practices vary widely, though, at each carrier.
"Many of our 31 airline members are at 500 (hours), many are at 750 and 1,000," said Roger Cohen, president of the Regional Airline Association.
Colgan required only 600 hours of experience when the Buffalo captain, Marvin Renslow, was hired, congressional staffers said in a report. Colgan has since raised it to 1,000 hours. Most major carriers in practice seek pilots with at least 4,000 hours, the report said.
Secretary LaHood said the flying public demands "the most-experienced pilot they can have and the most well-rested they can be."
Three major changes sought
In his testimony to congressional committees investigating the Buffalo crash, Caldwell of Fatigue Science consultants in Honolulu presented the position paper of the Aerospace Medical Association that recommended three major changes:
• Duty rules and flight schedules based on years of measuring pilot reaction and fatigue, rather than the current standard of eight hours of flight time in a 24-hour period.
"We know that an hour in the middle of the night is not the same as an hour in the middle of the day," Caldwell said. "We know that from science; we know that from practical experience."
Scientists are also learning to measure the great difference in stress between an eight-hour autopilot cruise over the ocean versus a shift with four or six takeoffs and landings at small commuter airports in trying weather.
• Cockpit naps. Studies have shown that 20- to 40-minute breaks, while another competent pilot is in control, make a major difference in subsequent performance. Allowing those breaks is one key to shift management and will become more important as manufacturers build planes capable of 16- or 20-hour nonstop flights.
"We don't need more studies, but moving that science into policies and systems is very difficult," said Curtis Graeber, a consultant and fellow of the Flight Safety Foundation.
• More extensive use of "hypnotic" sleep medications such as Ambien.
"Falling asleep during the day to get ready for another shift, it's just an operational necessity," said Caldwell. "You take an Ambien, and there is no drug hangover after eight hours. Do you want a pilot who was tossing and turning all day before his shift started? Frankly, I want a pilot who's had good sleep. We should authorize that."
