ASA pilot says Long Commutes not Fatiguing

[Dubya]

I know exactly what I would have said if I were interviewed by some reporter for this.

Mesa sucks.

And you can quote me on that.


W

 

[CX880]

How noble of you! I love guys like you, either you lived with mom and dad for those first few years at the FO pay scale or you have one big pile of credit card debt? There is no way that somebody can pay to live at home and also pay for crashpad or hotel consistantly at what regional airlines pay in the beginning! If you say that you can, you are straight up lying and you know it!!! :smash:
Why are there so many geeks on this website?

Do you have to use that avatar?

 

[michael707767]

You can bet that the FAA is going regulate commuting when they get around to updating duty time regs. I would expect that time spent commuting (not local in nature) will be added to your duty day.......If pilots (and pilot Unions) want to get serious about updating the seriously antiquated FAA flight and duty time regs we cannot bury our heads in the sand on such critical fatigue drivers such as commuting.

On the other hand, if the FAA can regulate commuting, can they then regulate just what consitutes rest? I mean, how many guys who live in base have a second job that they work before signing in for a trip? How many people have a crying baby at home that keeps them up all night before a 5AM sign in? What about pilots like a buddy of mine who lives four hours away, but drives in instead of commuting in on a flight? Since there is no record of him being on a flight, could they even attempt to regulate that? Do they require a guy like that to show a hotel receit showing he was in base prior to his trip? What's next, bed checks on layovers to be sure you are actually sleeping?

IMHO, it is the pilots job to ensure he/she is rested and ready to work. Beyond alcohol and drugs, it's none of the FAAs business what I do on my time off.

 

[tomgoodman]

It's possible

On the other hand, if the FAA can regulate commuting, can they then regulate just what consitutes rest?

Probably not, because they have little practical ability to monitor or evaluate the quality of rest that a pilot receives, unless he tells them. They can, however, easily check whether any job-related activity (like commuting) might have kept the pilot from having an adequate opportunity to rest. That is what they might try to regulate.

 

[wms]

It's 4:30 door-to-door whether I fly or drive. If they regulate commuting, I'll just start driving.

 

[doh]

Probably not, because they have little practical ability to monitor or evaluate the quality of rest that a pilot receives, unless he tells them. They can, however, easily check whether any job-related activity (like commuting) might have kept the pilot from having an adequate opportunity to rest. That is what they might try to regulate.

If they want to do that, maybe they could start with the job related activity of 16 hours of duty followed by the release (planeside) to 8 hours of reduced rest. Transportation, local in nature, there's a loaded gun. Yes, I know that I am dreaming.

 

[Mike man]

The problem is that legislation signed in 1936 is still a major player in dictating our work rules. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railway_Labor_Act

It was just amended in 2008 as the "Rail Safety Improvement Act" for railway workers giving them a monumental leap in QOL.

Here are the two key points in this new legislation:

Employee may NOT remain or go on duty for a period in excess of 12 consecutive hours.

Employee may NOT remain or go on duty UNLESS the employee has had at least 10 consecutive hours undisturbed rest off duty during the prior 24 hours.


I dont see why these rules cannot apply to us. Nothing against railway workers, but i think our job is a little bit harder, and fatigue plays a much bigger role safety wise in the cockpit than it does in a train control room.

I got to thinking today about the commute in and that we are not the only ones involved in transportation. Trains, subway, trucks and the list could go on, if our commutes get added to our duty, gratis no doubt, then all transportation worker commutes need to be added to their duty times.

Why doesn't ALPA, Teamsters, APA, et all push for an Airline Worker Labor Act?