Quandary

Fatigue

The FAA is on track to issue final rules of a NPRM later this Summer on new Flight Time/Duty Time (FTDT) rules which will for the first time take into account scientific data in the battle of pilot fatigue.

As you may surmise the ATA, which is the lobbying agent for the major airlines, is against many of the principles outlined in the proposed rules - mainly citing increased costs associated to comply, but also stating that the FAA doesn't understand the manner in which airlines operate and that it would add significant complexity.

While many of the major pilot unions (ALPA, APA, CALPA, etc.) are not entirely happy with all the proposed rules (mainly that it doesn't go far enough to address all the issues) - each see this as a very big step in the right direction.

Last August President Obama signed HR 5900 which set a timeline for implementation of the final FTDT rule to be enacted by July 31st. I fully expected that that the ATA will be screaming to high heavens to amend that date seeing as how that is a little more than 3 months away and it takes some time for the airlines to educate their affected staff as well as change their scheduling software to comply with whatever the final rule imposes.

Fatigue affects each individual differently, but nobody is immune. It is a nasty component of our industry that usually comes up only when highlighted by an accident & is insidiously cumulative depending on many factors:

Multiple time zone changes, circadian rhythm interruptions, lousy schedule, commuting to work, multiple legs in a duty day, long duty days, hotel issues, lack of proper hydration, poor nutritional choices, lack of exercise, etc.; by all means not an all inclusive listing.

This is a decades old battle for improvement - and safety for all involved demands that it be addressed.

Glutton for punishment

Trip traded a nice 3-day with a double OC (or as I prefer Red County) layovers for what seems to be the most onerous trip on the schedule.

The 1st day (last night) was one leg SEA-LAX arriving at the Hot L about midnight with lights out at 1:30AM. That was the easy part. The remainder not so much:

Tonight (actually O-to-early Friday) a 0105 departure to GDL with a scheduled return to LAX at 0925. Friday night is similar with a 2355 departure to MEX and a 0855 return to LAX Saturday morning. Saturday night is the short finale with a departure at 2100 and return to SEA at 2337.

There have been many safety complaints (nicknamed the LAX triple threat) and I am about to experience it firsthand. The pilot I traded with (who's questioning my sanity for making the request) has the seniority (juniority) that only allows him to hold this schedule, so he lives the backside of the clock flying all the time. From all the people I've talked with who've flown these - to a person say this is the worst of the worst.

This trip differs from all other backside of the clock flying that we do in that the report/departure times are later in the evening, with the corresponding arrival/release times pushed to that much later in the morning. Add to that clearing Immigration & Customs, waiting for the Hot L shuttle, and the noise and interruptions associated with and around the hotel and it adds up to a bad combination with ther potential for compounding fatigue.

Alaska Airlines decided in mid-FEB not to allow crews to layover in GDL or MEX anymore due to the increased potential for violence. This made for some initial bad ramifications with the revised schedules as they inexplicably planned a full day of flying after the all-nighter turn. This in turn lead to some zombie crews whose bodies were unable to the shift from flying all night in one duty period to then flying all day in the next. Those schedules got fixed rather quickly with the insistence of our ALPA Scheduling Committee and the assistance of the System Chief Pilot.

As I look at it this trip pairing is even worse on paper for the reasons previously described. And rather than just listen to the complaints I've made the decision to witness it myself. I will do my best to be appropriately rested when I report for duty and will let the chips fall where they may.

Why these aren't flown as turns by our LAX based brethren is confounding to me, and that may the best solution and soon change.

Beat the rain

Long EZ ride to OLM today to make payoff to kiddo's college funds with the WA GET Program before inevitable price increase takes effect on May 1st - thanks Grandma!

Forgot to recharge my Garmin after the last several rides so tried the map-my-ride app on my iPhone. 1st segment is to where I inadvertently dead-ended at the VA hospital at Gravely Lake, with the remainder getting me there & almost back before it too ran outta juice (just about the time I did) with about 10 miles remaining.

Coming across the Narrows Bridge and looking south I could see the wall of water approaching, which hit hard about 30 minutes after safely arriving home.

You gotta start somewhere