I've been reading on PPRUNe about the abysmal conditions in the middle east regarding fatigue and fatigue reporting. There are many accounts of absolutely awful schedules, of management pressure and bullying, fear, lack of any pilot representation, lack of credible and impartial government oversight , etc. etc. But of course these are jobs in countries that are dictatorships with questionable human rights records ,and expats should already know this going in.
One post "Well even if you do have a FRMS, like as not it will be a box ticking SHAM" got me thinking though.
- At the request of the airlines our government is delaying the implementation of new duty regulations they arrived at through a science based approach and in consultation with the airlines and pilot groups.
-Feed for our mainlines has morphed into multiple carriers, only one of which has a union, and that carrier has lowered the bar in compensation to the level of the others. The others are basically flying to our current ancient and inadequate duty regulations.
-That compensation bar means that these are no longer "career' jobs. That fact and the PMA permutations/ flowthrough seniority schemes have made these jobs almost mandatory underpaid, under protected (represented) stepping stones to the mainlines, where lack of success in obtaining a mainline position is unthinkable.
Following this train of thought I wanted to get an honest discussion going on the ability to book off due to fatigue at these carriers and the effectiveness of FRMS/SMS at these carriers

Having been threatened by a CP of "pulling your medical, until we get our doctor to look at you". I can say the same sh!t still goes on here. His thoughts were that since I had my regulatory 11 hrs rest, i couldnt be fatigued. During that time I was the most productive pilot"hrs flown" in the company.

I hope you know of course that your Chief Pilot has less than zero authority to "pull your medical" for any reason at all.

SSH

Edit .... this level of totally unethical attempted intimidation sounds like the kind of thing that would have been pulled by the management of the now defunct Skyward Aviation that turned in their AOC minutes before it was going to be suspended. They never did come up to a level where they were able to re-qualify for AOC issue.

It would also fit into the profile of Skylink and its Ops Mgr the late (as in now dead) Raf Zur.

RigPiggy .... time to make plans to move along. Your Chief Pilot and by extension, your Ops Mgr are beyond redemption. Save yourself.

SSH

What's up with the new regulations?

http://www.newswire.ca/fr/news-releases ... 26661.html

(sept 15 2014) "ALPA commends the Canadian government for making the process for modernizing pilot flight- and duty-time rules a priority," said Capt. Dan Adamus, president of ALPA's Canada Board. "The NPA marks a significant step forward in advancing ALPA's goals for combating pilot fatigue and further improving air safety throughout Canada."

The new rest/duty regulations got reported because it wasn't fitting in the previous government agenda...
Is anyone really active as we speak on the issue?