The nation’s top-level federal aviation safety regulators have taken immediate steps to monitor the regional airline industry’s pilot training and reduce the threat of fatigue on the flight deck.
The voluntary measures emerged from the June 15 “call to action” meeting between Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) officials and 50 representatives from the major air carriers, their regional partners, aviation industry groups and labor.
The one-day safety summit was called to address pilot training, cockpit discipline, fatigue and other flight safety issues that emerged in the wake of the Feb. 12, 2009 crash of Continental Express Flight 3407 near Buffalo, NY, which killed 50 people. The meeting was closed to the public and press after opening statements.
It followed a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) public hearing on the fatal crash, which revealed that the Colgan pilot involved had failed two qualification tests before he was hired by Colgan Air, which operated the flight for Continental Airlines. He hadn’t told Colgan of the failed tests. And the Safety Board hearing also showed that fatigue may have played a role in the fatal accident.
In his opening remarks, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said “we must regain the public trust. We must inspire confidence in every traveler every time he or she steps on a commercial aircraft of any size at any airport in our country.”
FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt was more pointed in his opening remarks, saying the Colgan accident revealed “unacceptable cracks in the system.”
Babbitt said the FAA will require the nation’s air carriers to get a complete record of a pilot’s proficiency before he or she is hired. Currently, airlines are only required to check a pilot’s qualifications and work record for five years.
The FAA maintains a database of pilot information established by the Pilot Records Improvement Act of 1996 or PRIA. This database includes information about a pilot’s certificates, ratings, medical status and any rule violations for the previous five years. The current law dictates that pilots must sign a release allowing potential employer access to their older training records. In addition, the law requires airlines to contact the pilot’s previous airline employer to obtain information about his or her training performance, drug and alcohol tests, and employment status. The FAA maintains a separate database, not subject to the PRIA law, which includes a pilot’s history of FAA check ride disapprovals.)
Regional Airline Association (RAA) President Roger Cohen believes requiring the FAA to maintain a single, integrated database of pilot records would provide airlines with critical, real-time information about pilot qualifications and performance, thereby improving the process of recruiting, hiring, and training new pilots.
The newly minted head of the FAA said: “Some of the things I’ve seen and heard about practices in the regional airline industry are not acceptable. Our job is to deliver and ensure safety, and recently we’ve seen some cracks in the system. We need to look more deeply into what’s happening, but the last few months, quite frankly, are an indication that some things aren’t right.
“We’ve learned several lessons over the past few weeks. We know, for example, that we need to know more about pilot performance during check rides over a pilot’s entire career. We know that prospective employers need to have as much information as they can about the pilots they’re hiring. And that information should be accurate, complete and easily accessible.
“That’s why we are updating our advisory circular on pilot records, setting the expectation that airlines request all records that are available from the FAA and previous employers when they hire a new pilot. And I want a recommendation today about asking Congress to expand the scope of the Pilot Records Improvement Act to give employers access to all of the records available in a pilot’s file, said Babbitt.
Added the former president of the Air Line Pilots Association: “There’s a public perception out there right now that pilots can repeatedly fail check rides and still keep their job. We want passengers to have no doubts about the qualifications of the person flying their plane.”
The FAA will also seek to limit how many hours regional airline pilots can fly in an effort to curb pilot fatigue. Babbitt will propose the new rule in the next several months. Exactly what the FAA will propose remains to be seen. But “the bottom line is I’m going to want a new rule,” said Babbitt, adding that the new pilot flight and duty time rulemaking will incorporate recent scientific research about the factors that lead to fatigue.
The airlines and unions will also review existing pilot training programs over the next several months, according to FAA-issued guidance, to see how they can be strengthened. “We want to make sure we’re not just checking boxes,” Babbitt said. “There’s a real difference between the quantity of training and the quality of training.”
Scheduling pilots to work fewer hours would involve hiring more personnel, and increasing training and raising salaries above current levels would involve an outlay of cash that few airlines have in the current economy.
Other measures agreed upon at the meeting were implementation of mentoring programs; more involvement by major carriers in training pilots at the regional level; and better monitoring of data from flights.
The pilot mentoring programs that will expose less experienced pilots to the safety culture and professional standards practiced by more senior pilots. The programs could pair experienced pilots from the major airlines with pilots from their regional airline partners.
Babbitt will pressure all airlines to install safety reporting systems such as Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) and the Aviation Safety Action Program (ASAP) to provide better data about safety issues.
Those attending the safety summit agreed to hold as many as 10 similar meetings throughout the country to assure that every carrier and pilot union has the opportunity to commit to these actions and to identify additional best practices that can be shared.
In response to the air safety concerns, the RAA—whose members now fly roughly half of domestic passenger traffic—issued its own ‘get well’ program.
The RAA and its member airlines have decided to launch a Strategic Safety Initiative to study and to recommend actions responsive to challenges facing the airline industry.
The initiative has four elements.
- Review Safety Procedures. The RAA will form a task force comprised of safety directors and operations directors from the regional airlines to review safety procedures, giving particular attention to any issue or procedure cited by the NTSB as a contributing factor to any accident.
- Study Impact of Fatigue. RAA will commission a study to look at the impact of fatigue and other human factors on pilot performance. The study will be conducted by an independent and expert organization, in all likelihood a university with a respected aviation program. The study will be framed by a Strategic Safety Advisory Board comprised of industry experts drawn from the ranks of academia, industry, and safety regulators.
- Fatigue Awareness Management Program. The RAA will create a fatigue awareness management program for use by its member airlines.
- Make recommendations to Congress.
RAA believe the Congress can provide the aviation industry with additional safety tools, including:
- Single Database of Pilot Records. Requiring the FAA to maintain a single, integrated database of pilot records would provide airlines with critical, real-time information about pilot qualifications and performance, thereby improving the process of recruiting, hiring, and training new pilots.
- Random Fatigue Tests. Airlines are already required to conduct random drug and alcohol tests on pilots. RAA recommends exploring with FAA and all industry stakeholders the concept of random fatigue tests on pilots to help ensure that pilots are indeed rested before flying.
- Commuting. We believe it would be prudent for Congress, working with all stakeholders, to examine commuting in depth, including the possibility of limiting commuting time prior to beginning a work assignment.
- Extend Background Check Timeframe. Under current law, an airline conducting a background check on a pilot can only review the last five years of the pilot’s safety records, qualifications, and training. Extending the review period from five to ten years will help airlines identify safety risks.
- Audits of Cockpit Voice Recordings. Currently, cockpit voice recordings can be reviewed only as an accident investigation tool. Yet, as we saw in the flight 3407 accident, pilots have violated the rule requiring sterile cockpit below 10,000 feet. Similar to ASAP and other diagnostic preventative safety programs, an initiative permitting airlines to conduct random audits could provide valuable information.
- Improved Tracking and Analysis of Check Rides. Though every airline pilot is required to pass frequent check-rides during their service, the FAA and the airlines may be able to increase the level of safety through more detailed analysis of this testing over the entirety of a pilot’s career. By working with regulators and the employee groups, the industry may develop a better methodology for assessing pilot performance and instituting remedial training programs that will ensure a higher level of safety.
The Air Transport Association (ATA) said the event reaffirmed their members’ commitment to air safety.
“ATA is pleased with the meeting of industry stakeholders, which reaffirmed our collective commitment to safety. That commitment includes maintaining high standards of professionalism. We look forward to working with the government in its review of pilot training programs to ensure there are no safety gaps. This summit is important in helping to maintain the U.S. aviation industry’s already exceptional safety record,” said ATA President and CEO James C. May.