Adds Their Voice To Those Saying Cargo Pilots Should Not Be Exempted

The FedEx Master Executive Council (MEC), the FedEx branch of the Air Line Pilots Association, International (ALPA), issued a statement concerning the FAA's final regulations regarding airline pilot flight- and duty-time limitations and minimum rest requirements, calling the rule "a political failure."

FedEx has joined the chorus of those saying the rule completely ignores the safety of cargo pilots, and instead lets operators choose to ignore the safety improvements that will benefit pilots carrying passengers. “It is outrageous that the new rule does not include cargo. Cargo aircraft operate into the same airspace, into the same crowded airports surrounded by millions of homes and face the same challenges every other professional aviator encounters on a 24-hour basis,” said FedEx MEC Chairman Scott Stratton.

It its news release, the FedEx MEC said "The families of the pilots and passengers who perished in the Colgan Air Flight 3407 operating as Continental Connection accident brought the issue of pilot fatigue to the forefront. Initially, Congress and the FAA acted to address pilot fatigue. However, cargo carrier lobbyists were able to use a protracted backroom process to convince federal policy-makers that somehow cargo pilots and their families were less worthy of fatigue protection."

The FedEx MEC says it is outraged at the casual dismissal of cargo pilots and their families. Industry commenters asserted that, “while a passenger-operation accident can result in numerous fatalities, an all-cargo accident would consist primarily of property damage.” The FAA apparently placed some value on this absurd statement and coldly used it to justify the subordination of cargo families. “This nonsense indicates the character of the political process that produced this rule,” said Captain Stratton. “It is clear that special interest money and politics won over safety today, but we will not sit idly by and allow another 50 years of ambivalence to take hold. Our work to achieve a single level of safety as envisioned by the founding members of the Air Line Pilots Association, International shall continue. There can be no “Scheduling with Safety” without “One Level of Safety.”

FMI: www.alpa.org