screwed, again

[rigpiggy]

By Allison Martell

TORONTO, Aug 10 (Reuters) - Canada's transportation regulator has made smaller carriers exempt for now from long-delayed rules on pilot fatigue, handing a partial victory to the airline industry after intense lobbying, and frustrating a major pilots' union.

In a filing with the federal register, Canada Gazette, on Saturday, Transport Canada said it plans to cap duty time at nine to 13 hours depending on when shifts start, down from 14 hours, among other scheduling limits.

But it restricted the changes to bigger airlines, in contrast with a September draft that would have applied to the whole industry. It pledged to issue rules for the smaller carriers soon, but gave no further details.

With a federal election scheduled for October, it is not clear what will happen to the plan, in the works since 2010, which was meant to bring Canada in line with international safety standards.

"We should be talking about implementation right now," said Dan Adamus, president of the Air Line Pilots Association's Canadian board. "We are extremely, extremely disappointed."

Transport Canada said it determined that the new rules would have more of an impact on smaller operators: "The introduction of the proposed changes in two phases would give smaller carriers more time to make the operational changes needed to meet the requirements."

John McKenna, president of the Air Transport Association of Canada, was pleased with what he sees as a change of course from Transport Canada. He said the draft proposal had been too heavily influenced by pilots' unions.

McKenna, whose members include most Canadian airlines, but not top carriers Air Canada or WestJet Airlines Ltd , said his group lobbied Transport Minister Lisa Raitt after the draft was published, saying new rules could raise operating costs by up to 30 percent.

"They were kind of surprised to hear that and backed off a little bit, but the minister wanted to do something so she came up with a revised (proposal)," he said.

Pilots in Canada can be scheduled to work for 14 hours, which is longer than in other jurisdictions like the United States, Australia, the European Union and India. There, limits range from 9 to 13 hours depending on when a shift starts.

Major airlines typically have stricter limits on flight time than what Transport Canada requires. Air Canada said its practices "far exceed" the rules. But many smaller operators serving remote communities as well as mines and other industrial sites do not.

Documents obtained by Reuters under Canada's freedom of information law show staff asked late last year for more time to look at alternative schemes proposed by the industry.

A briefing note circulated internally in November and December said those proposals were "not supported by fatigue science or necessarily aligned with international standards", but still requested more time to "work with industry" and potentially tweak the rules.

The Gazette said commuter airlines, air taxis and operators that use aircraft to do aerial work like mapping and sightseeing would get their own rules "as soon as possible as part of a future regulatory proposal."

McKenna said he expects those rules will be "more realistic" than those in the draft.

(Editing by David Gregorio)

inShare

[ctmorawetz]

Does anyone know which airlines were exempted?

[rigpiggy]

703/704 from sounds of it, so agl, cma, evas, etc......

[BDG]

I'm quite happy 702-704 has exemptions. I didn't think we needed it in the first place. (But that's only from personal experience)

As a guy that flys survey and medivac, these new changes would really screw up my schedule, not to mention the ability to provide proper service. Medivac can't run 24h coverage with only 2 crews anymore, which sounds great if you think there will be a third crew, until you realize you have to share your meagre yearly flight hours three ways. What do you think that will do for your wages?

How about the survey pilot, or Ag guy trying to "make hay while the sun shines". Sorry, you can't work because we said you are unsafe. Regardless of how rested the individual may be.

I have not considered the effect this would have on corporate guys/gals, who fly out in the morning and wait all day, to fly home. Would they have to reset in a day room? Would business people decide not to fly and conference call instead, if it meant they had to come home early?


Before we collectively decide this is the route to take, I would like to remind people that aviation is not all about the airlines, there is a lot more at stake.

[teacher]

Airline flying is easy compared to the 703 and some 704 stuff out there. If anyone needed these new rules it was the smaller carriers. Pushing flight crew on duty and flight times and subsidizing the air service by forcing folks to fly to "CARs limits" which are BS to begin with. You can't get proper rest when following the CARs the way operators interpret the rules. It should be 1 set of regs for everyone regardless of type flown. Tired is tired and a person's circadian rhythme doesn't change just because they're flying a Navajo instead of an 777.

[Wacko]

Yeah, this is so f'd up. So the guys hand bombing for 12 hours should be exempt but the guys "monitoring" systems with a coffee in their hands are too tired.
Not saying life is easier at the majors... Timezones etc are a b.ch too... I just hate the double standards.

[ahramin]

Are you surprised? As soon as Lisa Raitt was appointed it should have been obvious to everyone which way this was heading. I'm surprised 705 changes are still on the table.

I love how they keep pointing out that the new rules aren't necessarily science based. So lets keep the old rules that are based on ...?

[Redneck_pilot86]

None of this is good for commercial charter operations, especially those in the north where our operating seasons are short and operating costs, including transportation costs to move aircrews back and forth from down south, are very high. These regs are catered to fit 705 operators and appear to be designed to reflect the Air Canada / WestJet type Airline Unions and their current bargaining agreements in place. They will not work for 702 and 703 operators (helicopter or fixed wing) and will spell disaster to these operators AND to the pilots these regs are supposedly designed to protect!

Example of a Current Scenario:

A pilot is currently staying at the crew house in the north for a 30 to 42 day work shift. He gets up in the morning and is on duty at apx 0700 to get ready the helicopter ready to fly two drillers out to shift change at a drill pad at 0730 am. He is back in Whitehorse at apx 0900 am. He then sits around all day at the crew house (watching tv, playing on internet, going to the gym, etc) until the evening driller shift change at 1930 pm. He gets back to Whitehorse by apx 2030 pm. He then put the helicopter to bed and is off duty by apx 2100pm. His duty day is 14 hours long and his flight time is about 1.6 to 2.0 hours per day. Typically, he will do this for about 30 days and then go home to Alberta for 2 weeks off and $15,000 in his pocket.

With the new regs he will only be able to work 13 hours of duty time and will time out from “cumulative duty” after only 5.4 days (due to the 70 hrs of flight duty in 7 days reg). He won’t sit here on days off for free or on his own accord because he is a nice guy, so he would have to go home. He now goes home for a minimum of 7 days (in order to make it worthwhile flying outside) with $2525 in his pocket. He does this once more that month and ends up with $5050 in his pocket to pay his bills when he was accustomed to about $15,000 / month during the summer operating season. Being that he can’t live and support his family on that, he likely has to get another non-flying job. Meaning that, he is working far more hours than he used to under the current regs where many hours in his day were spent “relaxing”! At the same time the company incurs at least 4 times the travel expenses associated with moving pilots back and forth, 2 times the annual training costs (at least $10,000 per pilot) and needs to find twice as many pilots! Currently, it is extremely difficult to find qualified pilots. So much so that we rely heavily on temporary foreign workers to be able to fill the roster. We currently have about half of our pilots from Australia or New Zealand…. The fact is, we will not be able to locate the number of pilots needed to fill the seats if these regs go ahead.

[upintheair_]

The scenario you give is not everywhere though. There are many smaller operators who fly piston twins that max out 14 hour duty days every day, in addition to having 8-10+ legs in IMC and no autopilot in that day. After 5 days of that you get pretty damn exhausted.

That's not even including the operators who knowingly make their pilots fly over 14 hours but tell them to only count 14 in the books. Which is obviously illegal, but that's the kind of stuff that needs cracking down on. Not 705 airline duty regs.

[Redneck_pilot86]

The new regs as suggested do not work for 703. I'm all for limiting flight time and getting away from 14 hour days of solid work, but there needs to be some room for those of us that work long days with little flying. We have a completely different set of regs from 705, why would it make sense for our duty times to be the same? If the workload is different, the level of fatigue is obviously also different.

[Rockie]

If you're a human being you get fatigued whether you're a 703, 704 or 705 human being. These rules are for safety, not to get you the best schedule.

Canada is required as a member of ICAO to have science based flight and duty time regulations which successive governments have blithely ignored for decades. This latest round carried with it high hopes for reform, but the Conservatives now aren't even paying lip service to outdated lame excuses - now it's explicitly out there for all to see that money is more important than safety.

[Shibby]

Teacher, I agree 100%

The 703/704 shouldn't be exempt from these regulation changes because of "an additional 30% cost". It'll cost you more money to staff yes... but how expensive is an accident? The 703/704 guys are definitely the ones that are pushed the hardest and nickel and dimed right to that 14 hour duty day. Sit down with any of the guys and gals at GGN, they'll tell you how hard they work. You might not be going through time zones, but you are going up and down a whole lot.

The folk flying night cargo and night medevac need the change too, The Sask Government and Ornge staff their ships 24hours a day with 2 12 hour shifts. I'd like to see a shift for all medevacs to be carried out that way, if anything I see a higher level of care from it faster response time, rested crews.

The lobbying that was done to "postpone" a revised regulation change for the smaller carriers is ridiculous. I get it, anything to maximize profit. I had hope for these new regs, Sorry IATA.

[upintheair_]

The new regs as suggested do not work for 703. I'm all for limiting flight time and getting away from 14 hour days of solid work, but there needs to be some room for those of us that work long days with little flying. We have a completely different set of regs from 705, why would it make sense for our duty times to be the same? If the workload is different, the level of fatigue is obviously also different.

Couldn't a split duty day work in the scenario you listed? Or would you have to be available during those hours incase you needed to fly for an emergency?

[Mr. North]

Lets get real here, if you're awake and at work you are in the process of being fatigued. After flying my fair share of consecutive 14 hour slave drives I'm welcoming this with open arms. High cycles and long days can be a killer if you're not paying attention, especially in the last few hours. Or how about those long legs of boredom with marginal conditions and fatigue at your destination? You may have a leisurely flying position, so what? That's the nature of your particular job. Do you expect the government to differentiate between all the variables that is Canadian aviation? They have a hard enough time policing this industry as it is.

In the time it takes for the 704, 703, 702 operators to get on board I'm sure we'll see a number of them apply and receive duty time exemptions. Remains to be seen of course but I wouldn't be surprised if these OPS Specs weren't all that different from what we have in place today barring some changes to rest periods.

These changes will certainly shake things up as they have the potential to impact the earnings and lifestyle of all those involved (myself included). Perhaps I'm an optimist but I don't see these changes having a lasting negative impact. Pilots are still earning a living overseas under these rules. In fact this just fuels the demand for more pilots and last time I checked qualified pilots were in short supply. Which reminds me, probably a good time to ask for a raise!

[BDG]

What happened to personal responsibility? I was under the impression as pilots that if we are Fatigued, it is our duty to ensure we don't fly. If your company flogs you for 14 hours straight each and every day, busting your hump, and not giving you rest, who's fault is it for letting it happen? Them for pushing the issue, or you for accepting it? Legally you have the right to refuse if you are fatigued. Worried about getting fired? Take it to the labour board, or find employment elsewhere.

Do we want to force legislation to apply the one size fits all approach, when other country's have little or no cottage industry in aviation? Flight school to Flight deck in one easy lesson? Many country's do not have the same job requirements we have here in Canada. ("requirements" may be the wrong choice of word, but if I were eloquent I'd make a better living as a speech writer)

On the other hand, if we embrace these changes and have exemptions for every conceivable situation, whats the point in having legislation in the first place?

Thankfully there are less and less company's that push their pilots to the breaking point, times are changing. You may have to range further afield but the majority of employers out there are decent.

[Rockie]

"John McKenna, president of the Air Transport Association of Canada, was pleased with what he sees as a change of course from Transport Canada. He said the draft proposal had been too heavily influenced by pilots' unions."

Over the years ATAC had been 100% successful in preventing any change to the world's worst flight and duty time regulations whatever government was in power. This time was too easy for them because all they had to do was say the word "union" and like Pavlov dogs the Conservatives started salivating and growling, convinced that if the unions want it then it must be bad. Child's play....

Thankfully there are less and less company's that push their pilots to the breaking point, times are changing. You may have to range further afield but the majority of employers out there are decent.

Regardless of their individual decency and regard for employees, to remain competitive companies need a level playing field which means regulation. You're correct that pilots have the responsibility to remove themselves from duty if they are fatigued but that it supposed to be an exception, it is not supposed to be a continuously invoked final back stop against inadequate regulations that continue to violate ICAO directives.

[rigpiggy]

delete

[Rockie]

While I understand the reality many of us operate under, your CP was violating regulations then and should probably review the CAR's. At any reputable company the word "fatigue" ends the conversation right there. And as I mentioned earlier CAR 602.02 is not in any way there to make up for the inadequacies of Part VII, Subpart 0, Division III of the regulations.

602.02 No operator of an aircraft shall require any person to act as a flight crew member and no person shall act as a flight crew member, if either the person or the operator has any reason to believe, having regard to the circumstances of the particular flight to be undertaken, that the person

(a) is suffering or is likely to suffer from fatigue; or


(b) is otherwise unfit to perform properly the person’s duties as a flight crew member.

[Longtimer]

Seems the other pilots (large passenger ops) are not happy either.

News Feed Item
Air Canada Pilots Disappointed and Frustrated at Government Delays in Updating Canada's Flight and Duty Time Regulations to Global Standards
Further delays leave travelling public at risk, Canada continues to lag behind other countries


AUGUST 12, 2015 10:30 AM EDT

OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwired) -- 08/12/15 -- Air Canada pilots today expressed their disappointment and frustration with the federal government for failing to take action to update Canada's flight crew fatigue management regulations.
The Air Canada Pilots Association (ACPA) was responding to Transport Canada's publication on Saturday of a Notice of Intent (NOI) to amend the Canadian Aviation Regulations on Flight and Duty Time (FDT) limitations. FDT regulations dictate how many hours pilots can be on the job prior to needing rest, and how much rest they are required to have prior to going back to work. Effective fatigue regulations are essential to aviation safety.
"It is no exaggeration to say that Canada's FDT regulations are vastly outdated, and continue to be among the worst in the world," stated Captain Ian Smith, President of ACPA. "This latest proposal issued by the Government does nothing to change that fact. All this Notice of Intent does is delay the process even further, forcing the Canadian aviation community to wait even longer in the hope that the government will enact these changes. It has been very frustrating to say the least."
Air Canada pilots and other industry stakeholders have been working cooperatively with the federal government for more than five years to help craft new rules based on the known science of fatigue. During that time, the Government collected a substantial amount of information and heard testimony from leading experts on the need for substantive changes to the regulations. Yet despite all of the evidence, substantive and effective regulatory changes are still years away from implementation, according to the Government's own NOI.
"It is essential that Canada upgrade its safety regulations in order to meet the global standards stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO)," Captain Smith said. "We were hoping to have the new regulations in effect by 2015, but with the latest NOI, it looks like action is still years away."
As the 2015 federal election campaign unfolds, ACPA is calling on all major political parties to commit to implementing within one year effective new flight and duty time rules, as originally proposed in the government's own Notice of Proposed Amendment, published last September.
The Air Canada Pilots Association (ACPA) is the largest professional pilot group in Canada, representing the more than 3,000 pilots who fly millions of passengers across Canada and around the world on Air Canada and Air Canada Rouge.
Contacts:
Paul Howard
Director of Communications
Air Canada Pilots Association
1-800-634-0944 ext. 4011
phoward@acpa.ca

[phillyfan]

Pilots are a lazy bunch of babies. 99% have never put in a full day of work in their entire life. I can always spot the pilot in a crowd. While everybody else if working, he's the guy with his hands buried in his pockets.