If ALPA was proposing a max duty time of 11 or maybe 12 hours...I would be more accepting of increasing flight time to 9 hours. But starting a day at 12:59 pm and working until 1:59 am with 4 legs and 9 hours of flight time is not much better than what we have now.
I say reduce all duty periods by 1 hour on the ALPA chart and eliminate the flight time limit. Then say you can't takeoff if you will exceed the duty time limit and you can't reduce the 10 hour rest requirement. That would make me happy =)
AMEN my friend, nice to see that there are still people out there with common sens, G you are even more restrictive than I would be.
Maybe because I have no faith in Alpa and the FAA, at this point I will be glad if it's stay the way it is. No kidding, you always have the option to call in fatigue. The Colgan guys were in their first leg, that is not going to change, unfortunately, you can't teach or regulate common sens. Some guys are still going to report not rested, with dirty shoes, wrinkle shirts, and the ever popular Farfrumpuken sticker on their flight bags. My point is you can't teach professionalism.
Unfortunately, I Believe, work rules are going to get worse before they get better, if ALPA is already proposing up to 9 hours block, imagine what the Airlines and the FAA are going to submit. Eventually they'll come to some kind of middle ground, lets say 10.5 hours, the government will gladly red stamp it, and it's going to be portrait, all over the news, as a milestone in safety and commune effort. Next Dwayne Worthless appointed secretary of transport, you watch.
Unfortunately, they all just want to show congress and the White house that they are doing something, if you really want to fix the max duty rule, reduce it from 16 to lets say 14 or 13 hours and that is it, it doesn't take a genius to figure that one out. Just like health care, reduce the price of health care and Px with more competition and less lobbyists and it'll be more affordable.
I am sorry for the rant, maybe my 20 years in this business made me so cynical.
Before I go, Guess who is going to get stuck, for the next decades with the idiotic work rules and irrational schedules? you've got it, "Yeah, Ding ding ding, we have a winner!!! "and it's a service men, just back from it's fifth tour of duty, who wins a Curtain rod"....
