clearprop

FAA Imposes Stricter Rules for Flights in Icing Conditions - Bloomberg

Av8tion

so I guess the Saabs are grounded in 2 months?


EDIT: For aircraft without ice-detection equipment, the crew must activate the protection system based on cues listed in their airplane’s flight manual during climb and descent, and at the first sign of icing when at cruising altitude. (Already in the limitations section of the Saab CFM)

Razorback flyer

"The NTSB, in correspondence between the two agencies, praised the new standards while asking the FAA to broaden the rule to larger planes such as Bombardier Inc.’s Q400 turboprop. The FAA declined, saying there was no evidence that these planes are susceptible to icing."

Funny, I thought all planes were suscetible to icing.

Fly IFR

Guess rest rules were overlooked by the FAA and NTSB....

seafeye

I like how they show how much the airlines will save in the event of an accident. But when it comes to rest rules that argument is invalid.

rickair7777

Apparently the white house blocked the new rest rules, not the FAA.

PurdueFlyer

No the NTSB hasn't overlooked them. They've been screaming for change for decades now. It's all the FAA's fault, if the NTSB had their way we would have had new rest rules a long time ago. Unfortunately the NTSB has no regulatory authority, that falls solely to the FAA and they are bought and paid for by the ATA and RAA.

FlyJSH

Where did you hear that? Not challenging, I would just LOVE to hear his reasoning.

Safety: One of our highest priorities.

rickair7777

Yahoo.com
August 17, 2011

Charter, Cargo Airlines Target Pilot Safety Rule

By Joan Lowy, Associated Press

WASHINGTON -- Amid fierce opposition from charter and cargo airlines, as well as alarms raised by Pentagon officials, the Obama administration has delayed new safety rules aimed at preventing airline pilots from becoming so exhausted that they make dangerous mistakes.

The Federal Aviation Administration was supposed to have final rules in place by Aug. 1 under a law passed by Congress last year in response to a 2009 regional airline crash in western New York that killed 50 people.

The FAA proposed new rules last year designed to address long-standing concerns that pilot fatigue contributes to errors that cause accidents. They would reshape decades-old regulations governing how many hours a pilot can be on duty or at the controls of a plane, to take into account the latest scientific understanding of how fatigue slows human reflexes and erodes judgment.

Administration officials declined to comment on the reasons for the delay. A new schedule for issuing final rules indicates the target date — which has been repeatedly pushed back — is now in late November.

Charter airlines are demanding to be exempted from the new rules. Charter, also called nonscheduled, airlines not only fly tourists and sports teams, they provide the planes and pilots for thousands of military flights every year. Civilian airlines transport more than 90 percent of U.S. troops and 40 percent of military cargo around the globe under contracts with the Pentagon. The trips are frequently long, usually at night and often to danger spots like Afghanistan.

The nation's top aviation accident investigator blamed the delay in issuing final rules on the influence of airlines that put profit ahead of safety.

"There are special interests who are holding this rule up because it's not in their financial self-interest," National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Deborah Hersman told The Associated Press this week. "The American people expect safety to trump special interests, not the other way around."

The proposed rules would allow some pilots to fly more hours — 10 instead of the current maximum of eight — if they begin their day in the morning so that most of their flying takes place during the daytime. But pilots who fly overnight — the busiest time of day for cargo carriers and military charters — would be allowed fewer than eight hours because people naturally crave sleep during those hours.

The rule could force airlines to add one or two relief pilots to the normal two-pilot flight crew on long, overseas flights and to provide onboard rest facilities and sleeping accommodations at destinations more frequently.

And it sets standards for suitable resting places for a pilot during a flight while another pilot flies the plane. Airlines that provide a bunk for the pilot to lie flat for a nap would be allowed to fly longer without changing crews.

Many airlines already provide bunks for flights longer than eight hours, but not all. On United Parcel Service's Boeing 767s, pilot Lauri Esposito says the only place to rest is on a row of three small jump seats in the back of the cockpit. A captain or first officer trying to get some rest will often lie across all three seats, positioning tray tables on top to keep from sliding through the gaps, she said. If they're tall, their feet are in the bathroom.

"We're not asking for rest in heavenly beds, we just want some fatigue mitigation," said Esposito, fatigue committee chairman for the Independent Pilots Association, the union representing UPS pilots. "I don't know how these 6-foot-4 men do it. Some of them just resort to sleeping on the floor."

Airlines would also have to give pilots a minimum of nine hours off between work shifts, one hour more than currently required. They would also have to put in place "risk management" programs designed to spot work schedules likely to prevent pilots from getting adequate rest and correct them.

RgrMurdock

Yes the omb blocked the rest rules. The faa didn't have anything to do with it this time. Although they took long enough to get off their @sses after decades of doing nothing.