While all of this was spurd along by the Colgan crash, what seems to be ignored is the fact that crew-rest was not a factor in that crash. Poor choices by the pilots lead to any rest or fatigue issues which may have been causal.
Now if ALPA really wants to earn their bread, perhaps they would address germain issues which actually were a factor in the Colgan event and continue to be a factor in our cockpits on a daily basis:
1. Make all sick-calls and fatigue calls completely jeopardy-free events, even if you don't have the sick-time. In other words, no occurrences. Yes, people will abuse it, but running out of sick-time will eventually act as a valve.
2. Come up with an industry standard commuter-clause regulation. In order to be worthwhile, it will have to be better than anything I've read in a contract.
3. Establish any uniformed commuting CASS rider as the highest non-revenue priority on any flight. Yes, this will get the FEDS even deeper in our poop, but it will make things better for the commuters.
4. If 2 and 3 are not established, the FEDS should just make commuting illegal and mandate all pilots live within two hours of work. Just kidding...
