Pilot unions again push for tighter cargo pilot fatigue rules

Several US lawmakers have again introduced a bill to impose more restrictive duty and rest time requirements on pilots of cargo aircraft, a move both the Federal Aviation Administration and cargo carriers previously opposed.

The measure continues a years-long effort by groups including pilot unions to make cargo pilots subject to fatigue rules in place for passenger aircraft pilots since 2014.

Cargo carriers are already subject to pilot fatigue regulations but were exempted from the more restrictive 2014 rules, which came as a congressional response to a deadly 2009 crash of a Colgan Air turboprop.

The “Safe Skies Act of 2019”, introduced into the US House of Representatives by bipartisan lawmakers on 19 November, would apply the 2014 rules to cargo pilots.

The measure, which has not been approved by either house of Congress, mirrors a half dozen similar bills introduced in recent years. None of those became law.

“All-cargo airline operations are excluded from science-based pilot fatigue rules despite flying the same routes, in the same airspace and into the same airports as pilots of passenger airlines,” says a media release issued by the Air Line Pilots Association, International and the Coalition of Airline Pilots Association, a group including the Independent Pilots Association and International Brotherhood of Teamsters.

Those unions represent pilots who fly for FedEx, UPS and subsidiaries of Atlas Air Worldwide Holdings and Air Transport Services Group.

The cargo airline industry and FAA have pushed back against such efforts.

Cargo Airline Association president Stephen Alterman says the bill “doesn’t recognise that the all-cargo industry, as a business model, is significantly different than the passenger industry”.

Cargo pilots typically fly one round trip during a work period – out and back from a major cargo sorting hub over 5h or so, he says. They often log less than 30h of flight time monthly. By comparison, passenger aircraft pilots might fly more than 10h during a work day and log 55-60h of flight time a month, Alterman says.

“Safety is and always will be the airline industry’s top priority,” says airline lobby group A4A. “The FAA’s current flight duty and rest rules take into account the very different operating environment that cargo airline pilots work in. Imposing one policy for two separate and distinct types of flight operations could harm – not help – aviation safety.”

FedEx issued a similar statement, though adds that it “has developed the best, most-scientifically advanced fatigue mitigation program in the airline industry”.

The FAA did not immediately respond to a request to comment but has previously opposed subjecting cargo pilots to the 2014 rule.

An FAA analysis released in 2014 estimated that to do so would cost the industry $452 million over ten years, while providing a benefit of only $3-10 million.

The 2014 rule limits passenger-aircraft pilots’ duty periods to 9-14h based on time of day and flight segments, and requires pilots have at least 10h of rest.

Cargo-aircraft pilots are subject to the same fatigue regulations to which passenger-aircraft pilots had been subject prior to the 2014 rule.

Those rules do not address duty time, but they limit flight time to 8h for pilots flying domestically and require 8h or 9h of rest.

Story updated on 2 December to include a response from the FAA, below.

In a statement to FlightGlobal, the FAA says it exempted cargo-aircraft pilots from the rule “after considering the relevant scientific information about pilot fatigue and performing a cost-benefit analysis”. Fatigue poses heightened risks to passenger aircraft due to the number of people potentially affected, it adds, noting cargo carriers can “voluntarily” comply with the passenger-aircraft pilot fatigue rules.

“The FAA concluded that the final rule would not apply to all-cargo operations because the compliance costs would significantly outweigh the safety benefits,” says the FAA.

The agency won a court battle in 2016 against the Independent Pilots Association, which had challenged the rule’s exclusion of cargo-aircraft pilots, the FAA notes. Still, cost-benefit analysis aside, the FAA says it “does not have a technical objection” to subjecting cargo-aircraft pilots to the passenger-aircraft pilot fatigue rules.