Pilot Regulations Case Study

The aviation industry is one of the sectors which requires maximum regulation in order to not only enhance the safety of the occupants but also prevent entry of highly wanted criminals and illegal goods such as hard drugs. In addition, the concentration and sober mind of pilots is also considered especially due to the fact that he or she is a human being, who is deemed to suffer from fatigue if he happens to be overworked. Training and total concentration of pilots is of high value especially due to the fact that he or she is responsible for the lives of all passengers on board. In this regard, there are numerous regulations that have been established as a guideline for the duty schedules of pilots including the FARs on duty day limits. This paper pays high attention to the analysis of the duty day limits for FAR part 121, part 135, and part 91.

According to duty limits part 121, a certificate holder can give a flight attendant to a scheduled duty period of more than 18 hours but not more than 20 hours, especially if the scheduled duty period entails one or a number of flights that land within or take off outside the 48 contiguous states as well as the District of Columbia. In addition, for this regulation to be applied, the certificate holder must also assign three more flight attendants besides the minimum flight attendant in order to compliment the requirement for the flight in that duty period. In addition, part 91 stipulates that no program manager can assign duty to a crew member during any required rest period.

In addition, a crew member has the freedom to decline a flight assignment if he or she thinks that performing the assignment would not be consistent with the standard of safe operation which are stipulated in this part or subpart. According to regulations that are stipulated in part 135, no polit is allowed to operate for 24 consecutive hours proceeding the completion of any flight segment without a scheduled rest period of at least 10 consecutive hours. Apparently, this amount of rest time can be changed based as stipulated in this part

However, I think there is need for the rest time of pilots in all the three parts to be harmonized in such a way that the rest time for one part does not concur with that of the other (Legal Information Institute, 2016). When it comes to rest time, the most important goal is for the crew member to relax his or her mind in such a way that he regains energy for the next assignment. In addition, though part 135 stipulates that crew members must have at least 10 consecutively rest hours in any flight segment, this rest time creates some confusion since it does not account for the time that a pilot may be on call.

In conclusion, rest time is important to crewmembers in order for them to remain focused while on duty. The regulations that are provided in the three parts are important to not only the wellbeing and safety of the crewmembers but also to the entire population that is depends on the aviation industry. However, the room for improvement is never full, sine there are a number of aspects that the aviation sector needs to improve on for the safety of pilots and the entire population to the guaranteed.

References

Legal Information Institute, (2016). 14 CFR 91.1057 – Flight, duty and rest time requirements: All crewmembers. Retrieved from, https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/14/91.1057