Does airline’s policy discourage pilots from calling in fatigued?
February 5, 2010 by Fred HosierPosted in: Fatality, fatigue, In this week's e-newsletter, Latest News & Views, Transportation safety
PDF A broadcast report says the airline that operated the flight that crashed and killed 50 people near Buffalo, NY, recently issued a policy limiting pilots’ ability to call in fatigued.
CNN says Colgan Air told crews they may not call in fatigued if they’ve had a 12-hour or longer rest break.
This week, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued its report on Continental Flight 3407 that crashed near Buffalo, killing all 49 people on board and one person on the ground.
The NTSB said pilot error caused the Feb. 12, 2009 crash. It also said fatigue did hurt performance of the two pilots but couldn’t be blamed for the crash.
One of three NTSB board members did vote to include fatigue as a cause of the crash.
The Federal Aviation Administration says tired pilots are supposed to call in fatigued and not fly.
But CNN says Colgan Air recently issued a memo, stating that its safety department would decide whether a fatigue call is acceptable and that blatant use of fatigue calls would be handled with disciplinary action.
Colgan and the pilots union say they’re working to revise the policy. The union says it opposes the presumed guilty approach of the memo and it wants the policy to be non-punitive.
This news about Colgan Air also follows a recent study which confirms that when workers try to catch up on a sleep deficit with ten hours of rest, it still leaves them vulnerable to accidents and errors.
Is Colgan’s policy reasonable? Let us know what you think in the Comments Box below.
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Tags: Colgan Air, Continental Flight 3407, fatigue, flight crash
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February 9th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Colgan, in my opinion, should have been removed from operation until a thorough corrective action plan has been implemented with scheduled audits to take place to ensure that corrective actions are being completed per corrective action plan.
As for whether or not their policy is reasonable - absolutely not! If a pilot calls in for ANY reason - it is their way of saying I don’t want to fly - guess what - as someone who travels almost every week of the year via flight - I don’t want a pilot who doesn’t want to fly the plane flying the plane. If he calls in too often then get rid of him. However, Colgan needs to address the real issue - WHY is the pilot calling in?
It appears to me that Colgan doesn’t know the first thing about safety and therefore they should have their operations suspended NOW.
February 9th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
There are people who’s jobs involve taking people’s lives into their hands every day including doctor’s, nurses, EMTs, fire fighters, police officers, and pilots. However, it is their ethical responsibility to make sure that they are rested and ready for work and if they are unable to work they need to call out. Does this mean there are not consequences for missing work? No. As adults in any profession you are responsible for being ready for work. If you didn’t manage to get enough sleep, were out late with friends, or simply aren’t feeling up to doing your job then yes you should call out. However, like every other adult there are consequences. What airline (or hospital or ambulance team for that matter) could survive if all employees could call out indefinite amounts of time without consequence? Why is all of the responsibility on the airline and not any on the pilots? Pilots are adults who have been well trained in their job and know what they need to do to be ready to perform their work at a high (and safe) level. To take all personal accountability away from them and place all of the responsibility on the airline is unreasonable. There isn’t a business model out there that can function without accountability by their employees. I am very familiar with airline contracts and they tend to be very lenient on attendance, allowing multiple call outs a year without discipline. Even once discipline begins there is ample opportunity to fix the problem. Twelve hours of rest is very reasonable amounts of time, if a pilot isn’t feeling well or makes personal decisions that impact his or her rest then it is there ethical responsibility to call out, accept the consequences, and make changes to their life style that keeps it from happening again. If they aren’t able to do this then maybe being a pilot is not the right job for them.
February 9th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
I agree wholeheartedly with Tom. LP you ask, “Why is all of the responsibility on the airline and not any on the pilots?” Because Colgan is the EMPLOYER who hired these pilots - their EMPLOYEES. As such, the EMPLOYER is responsible for the safety of not only their employees, but their passengers as well. Colgan is responsible for implementing policies and procedures to ensure the safety of ALL. Again, as with Tom, Colgan needs to address the issue of why the pilot’s calling in fatigued and especially if they are doing so frequently. There could be other underlying issues, i.e. health. If the issue is health, I can’t imagine that twelve hours of rest is reasonable, again depending on the illness. The bottom line is: Colgan is totally responsible; they employed these pilots and are equally responsible for whatever “safety” policies and procedures they’ve implemented. Last, but not least, as I recall the article I read indicated that neither pilot had a break between shifts!
February 10th, 2010 at 10:35 am
I live in the Buffalo area so I’ve been following this story for a year now and I agree with Tom, but reforms have to go way beyond Colgan. The entire airline industry needs a major overhaul. All pilot should be as well trained as Chesley Sullenberger, and airlines are responsible for ensuring the pilots they hire are well trained and keep their skills up to date. Pilots should be assigned to ‘home bases’ that are close to where they live to eliminate the need to fly across the country just to get to work. I also agree with Pat, that if pilots are frequently calling in fatigued, the airlines need to take a hard look at their policies to see if they are making it more difficult for pilots to do their jobs safely. Finally, I know jobs are hard to come by these days, but if a pilot (or anyone) feels he or she is being pressured to do a job unsafely, they need to take a stand and refuse to do it, even if that means looking for a new job with a company that cares more for it’s people than the bottom line.
August 9th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
As an airline pilot let me explain a few things. The regulations that regulate our duty and rest requirements were made in the 1940′s and 1950′s. They are outdated and infact the NTSB has been telling the FAA for over 20 years that things have changed and that the rest and duty tme limitations are outdated. Someone on here mentioned that they are familiar with airline operations and that 12 of of rest is more than plenty. Yes and no, If I have 12 hours AT THE HOTEL yes…… you are correct. However a 12 hour layover, lets see……. we pull into the gate, and our 12 hours starts 15 minutes after we open the door. 15 minutes after we open the door we are still on the plane as people are still getting off. say we leave the aircraft 20 minutes after opening the door we are 5 minutes into that 12 hours add in a 10 minute walk to baggage claim, add in say another 20 minutes waiting for the hotel van plus AT LEAST a 15 minute ride to the hotel another 15 minutes to get our luggage check in and get to the room. youre now one hour and five minutes into your 12 hour rest period. You get to your room, you lay everthing out for the morning, razor toothbrush etc, you order your dinner to go in the restaurant. get your dinner take it to your room eat… that all taking 45 minutes to an hour. now its finally time to go to sleep you’re now say 2 hours into your rest period. You have to be to the airport and through security 45 minutes prior to departure, so there is another 45 minutes out of your time, and lets not forget the 15 minute van ride to the airport and that is only if the van runs on demand! thats now 3 hours and oh lets not forget your 330am wake up call say 45 minutes prior to the van time. that is 3 hours and 45 minutes total out of your 12 hours. so on a 12 hour layover thats 8 hours and 15 minutes that you can TRY to sleep. Considering they usually put us in the least desireable rooms close to the elevators, getting a good night sleep on the road alot of times is a challenge. Partys, kids, drunks etc…………. so 8 hours 15 min of actual reast on a scheduled 12 hour layover.