Sun, Sep 18, 2011
New FAA Crew Rest Rules Tied Up In Administrative Review
One of the outcomes of the 2009 crash of Colgan Air 3407 near
Buffalo was tighter regulations covering crew rest for airlines.
The NTSB ruled fatigue was a secondary factor in the accident, FAA
Administrator Randy Babbitt announced an update to the rules was a
personal priority, Congress ordered the FAA to make the update, and
the FAA complied. But the new rules are mired in review at the
Office of Management and Budget.
MyFoxDC.com reports that a half-dozen members of families who
lost loved ones in the 3407 crash (file photo of similar plane
shown courtesy Wikipedia) have met with officials of the OMB to
urge quicker review and adoption of the new rules. John Kausner,
who lost his daughter Ellyce in the crash, told reporters he's also
going to the top with his lobbying. "We're asking the President to
use his influence in the administrative branch to move this
forward."
Kevin Kuwik, whose girlfriend Lorin Maurer died in the crash,
noted the pilots can be clearly heard yawning in audio from the
cockpit voice recorder.
Steve Lott, a spokesman for the Air Transport Association, tells
MyFoxDC the airlines are OK with changes, "But we must do it based
on science, based on data, based on operational experience. Right
now the current proposal does none of that."
It's not clear crew rest quotas would have had any effect on
fatigue in the 3407 case. Captain Marvin Renslow lived in Florida,
First Officer Rebecca Lynne Shaw in Washington state, but both were
based at Newark. Babbitt has noted that no mandatory amount of crew
rest time will help if crews spend their time off commuting, rather
than getting enough sleep.
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