Flight and Duty Regulations in the Cargo World

1) The old saying goes, "aviation rules are written in blood" meaning that necessary changes get made in this industry whenever a significant loss of life has occurred. Colgan 3407 is no different. Now although it is blatantly clear thanks to the NTSB investigation that the pilots in this situation were severely inexperienced (or at least not the most ideal pilots to fly); some of the immediate changes made to operate in as a 121 airline pilot may be a more kneejerk reaction due to the incident. After Colgan the NTSB recommended that a few new rules get put in place in order to operate as a 121 pilot. The first being a recommendation to establish an electronic database for pilot records to improve pilot monitoring and the hiring process (Schaal 2013). The transition from paper to electronic can be a long process however so this could be a rule that isn't implemented until the database can be used nationwide by 121 air carriers. Another rule that was pushed for change after the Colgan incident was the requirement of remedial crewmen training for those who have demonstrated deficiencies or have failed a section of their training and training specifically for proper stall procedures, stall stick pusher readings as well as training to recognize flying into potential weather events like icing conditions. These rules are all directly related to the events and lack of recognition that led up to the Colgan incident. Another issue that was considered a factor was pilot fatigue and sure enough, in the Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010; duty time was addressed as follows, "the Administrator of the FAA shall issue regulations based on the best available scientific information to specify limitations on the hours of flight and duty time allowed for pilots to address problems relating to pilot fatigue." In the Act, it goes further in depth on what they would look for in regards to pilot fatigue like the time of day a "duty" begins, the number of takeoffs and landings conducted in a duty period, the effects of commuting and length of commute, and rest environments among many other factors (Airline Safety & FAA Extension Act 2010). Now the biggest and most influential rule that changed due to the Colgan incident was the flight hours required in order to receive an ATP (airline transport pilot) certificate for a 121 carrier. Prior to the incident, a First Officer only needed 250 flight hours to work for a 121, but after the incident that hours requirement sky-rocketed to 1,500 flight hours just to become a First Officer in a 121 airline operation. This has had the largest effect on student pilots because on average, a pilot obtains around 200-350 hours in their pursuit of a commercial and CFI(I) certificate , so they are left with coming up with another 1,000 hours of flight give or take before they can even become a first officer for a regional air carrier.

2) According to CFR 117.11 section A subsections 1,2, & 3 states that "no certificate holder may schedule and no flightcrew may member may accept an assignment or continue an assigned flight duty period if the total time: exceeds the total time in Table A of this part if the operation is conducted with minimum required flight crew,  or will exceed 13 hours conducted with a 3-pilot flightcrew, or will exceed 17 hours with a 4-pilot flightcrew." Table A lays out a maximum flight time in reference to the time of the report which is as follows: from 0000-0459 the maximum flight time is 8 hours, from 0500-1959 the maximum flight time is 9 hours, and from 2000-2359 the maximum flight time is 8 hours. The key difference here from a cargo operator over an airline is the 9 hours that can be the max flight time rather than the concrete 8 hours of flight duty in a 121 airline operation. Also, the more pilots included in a cargo operation the longer the flight can be conducted before rest is required (refer to table C in part 117) (https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/part-117/appendix-TableC).

3) I believe that cargo operators are exempt from the new rules because due to the high demand of their operation they need pilots operating at all times. I also think it has something to do with what is carried on the aircraft. In the view of most, cargo or things that are inanimate are not seen as more important than an aircraft loaded with 200+ people or even anything over the 4-8 crewmembers that may be aboard a cargo plane should the situation get disastrous. I also believe that this is partially why a majority of cargo pilots are former military because they are used to working ridiculous hours and handling heavy workloads. I feel the cargo industry has a form of masculinity and machoness to it that isn't in place in the airline industry due to the demand and value of life on board the aircraft.

4) I think cargo carriers should be included in the new flight duty and limitation rules because if it is something that is being implemented in the airline industry I don't see why cargo carriers wouldn't be included or embrace it either. Especially with the measurement of fatigue. I think pilot fatigue affects every pilot equally regardless of the type of operation they run, so for a cargo carrier to allow an extra hour (even if it's "just an hour") during the peak times of the day (0500-1959) that their pilots can fly before requiring rest seems like pushing the envelope. I think this could be a reason why cargo carriers aren't seen as an illustrious career choice and often receive the nickname "cargo dog" because they deal with heavier workloads and worse conditions than an airline pilot goes through.

5) If cargo carriers were included in the new duty limitations then I think it would make a manager's job a bit tougher. They need for more pilots would continue to increase to a demand greater than it is already at. Also, managers of cargo carriers would have to be very careful in planning the routes and destinations that they choose their pilots to fly. Either shortening the routes or bringing more pilots on the trip would be ways that a manager could work with the new limitation rules, but that would in turn lead to paying more wages (more pilots on board) or losing revenue for the company (shortening or possibly ending further routes). I think the limitation would put a lot more stress on a manager and you could possibly see the separation of a company over a few hubs across their intended region so that way they could maintain their routes but depart from areas a few hours closer in order to make it within that concrete 8 hour flight duty limitation.

Works Cited

Airline Safety and Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010 retrieved from: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW-111publ216/html/PLAW-111publ216.htm

Schaal, D. (2013, November 05). FAA Issues New Pilot Training Rule to Fix Colgan Air Deficiencies. 

14 CFR 117 Table A & C retrieved from: http://www3.alpa.org/portals/alpa/committees/ftdt/Part-117-Flight-Time-Limitations-and-Rest-Requirements.pdf