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Pilot Fatigue
Tuesday
June 19, 2001
Just days before fed up flight attendants could strike and cripple the airline industry, frightening news that many of today's pilots are too tired and overworked to take the controls. You may really lose sleep when you hear the FAA allows pilots to work 16-hour days.
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American Airlines captain Rich Rubin is a 20-year veteran and an outspoken activist for the Allied Pilots Association. He says tired captains in the cockpit can make for a catastrophic disaster. Rubin says, “Sixteen hours is too much for anybody to be on a job.”
Little Rock, Arkansas, June of 1999. Eleven people died when an American Airlines plane went down.
In Guam, August 1997, 228 are dead after a Korean Air crash.
Long Island, New York in 1990. An Avianca jet crash killed 73. In all three disasters, the National Transportation Safety Board ruled pilot fatigue was a factor.
In just the last five years, 15 crashes have been blamed in part on pilot fatigue.
Extra's travel detective Peter Greenberg says the FAA's current eight-hour rest rule isn't right. That eight hours includes time to and from a terminal, checking into the hotel, and meals. That means the pilot of your plane may have as little as 4-5 hours of sleep before taking off.
What's worse, the FAA doesn't regularly enforce it's 16-hour rule and is under fire from several pilot associations to lower flying time. Rubin says, “We're looking to limit scheduled duty to 12 hours and then if there are delays, a maximum cut off at 14 hours."
The FAA refused an interview with “Extra,” but issued a statement saying that in November, it "will review airline flight scheduling practices" and that "the vast majority of pilots are receiving the amount of rest required by the FAA’s rule."
But what about those who don't? And pilots pressured to take off when they're too tired?
Scott Rubin says, “The airlines would like to see us work as long as possible because from a productivity standpoint, they get the most bang for the buck."
But try telling that to passengers who just want to get where they're going in one piece. Of course it comes down to money, but the bottom line is, at what point do you trade off money for safety.
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