Before the Colgan disaster, companies such as Colgan would hire pilots right out of flight school. Most with only 250 hours, they would be put in the right seat of a passenger airliner. After the disaster regulations changed drastically. Minimum flight hours jumped to a whopping 1500 hours which really clamping down on the industry. Only tightening the reins even more, new rest requirements came about as well. A pilots off duty time begins when he or she enters their hotel room. This is quite different than before when a pilots off duty time starts when the engines shut down.
As for cargo operations, they still adhere to old regulations. This is still a problem due to the fact that both settings for cargo and commercial operation still require you to fly a plane. Whether that plane is carrying passengers or cargo, the same regulations should adhere to both. Cargo operations off time begins when they exit the aircraft until the start the engines again in eight hours.
I truly feel that the reason cargo and commercial have different flight rules is because one carries passenger while the other one just carries boxes. Less lives are at stake when flying cargo versus commercial. Two lives versus 100 or even 400 lives should not make a difference at all. All operations should operate equally if that aircraft is for hire.
If both operations had the same rules, I think that for 1.) It would improve the lives of the pilots by having more rest. 2.) Companies would need more staff to cover the flights. 3.) This could reduce the risk of further accidents in the future.
http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/rulemaking/recently_published/media/2120-AJ58-FinalRule.pdf
http://airfactsjournal.com/2014/03/double-tragedy-colgan-air-flight-3407/
I agree with you that both cargo an passenger carriers should adhere to the same regulations. Just because one aircraft carries less humans than the other doesn't mean that one should be less safe than the other. A cargo aircraft and a passenger one can create an equal amount of damage on the ground in case of a crash as a passenger one of equal size in case the crew gets fatigued and starts making not so smart decisions.
ReplyDeleteThe main question in whether or not these rules should be instituted in the cargo world is whether or not the cargo carriers could handle the additional cost without going out of business. But, as someone said in class, perhaps the additional crew costs would motivate them to operate more efficiently.
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