Tired Pilots Law

From USA Today:

"FAA rules: Airline pilots must fly shorter shifts, rest more"

Airline pilots would fly shorter shifts and get longer rest periods under new rules the Federal Aviation Administration finalized Wednesday in a landmark effort to reduce potentially dangerous fatigue. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced a new "pilot fatigue" rule Wednesday that will determine how much time off pilots have between work periods. The FAA developed the most sweeping changes in pilot rules in 50 years after a Colgan Air crash near Buffalo in February 2009 killed 50 people. "This new rule raises the safety bar to prevent fatigue," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said. Existing rules dating to the 1960s were riddled with loopholes. Between overnight shifts of up to 16 hours, the eight hours of rest could include eating, showering and getting to a hotel. Carriers could extend the workday if a pilot was flying an empty plane.

Under the new rules:

•Flight-duty times would range from nine to 14 hours. For the first time, rather than just counting flight time and rest time, flight-duty time would count the time spent flying to the job, which is sometimes called dead-heading, as if the pilot were working.

•Flight-time limits will be eight or nine hours, depending on the time of day and number of flights flown.

•Minimum rest periods will be 10 hours between shifts. The pilot must have an opportunity for eight hours of uninterrupted sleep during that rest period.

• Pilots must have 30 consecutive hours of rest each week, a 25% increase over current standards.

Airlines have two years to meet the standards. The FAA estimated the changes would cost airlines nearly $300 million over 10 years. But Airlines for America, an airlines trade group, estimated it could cost $2 billion more each year. The FAA decided not to apply the rules to cargo pilots because of the costs to that industry, FAA Acting Administrator Michael Huerta said.

^ These changes do not seem to go far enough and airlines should not be allowed to wait 2 years to implement them. Who knows how many innocent passenger lives will still be in danger during those 2 years? The new rules should deal with commercial as well as cargo pilots and their work hours should include the time it takes to get to their job. If pilots and flight crews are given absolute authority in the air then they should be forced to sleep and relax while on the ground. ^

http://travel.usatoday.com/flights/story/2011-12-21/FAA-rules-Airline-pilots-must-fly-shorter-shifts-rest-more/52139264/1