ALPA Should Be Ashamed

[groundpilot]

ALPA just thanked Minister Garneau on Twitter for the changes. 

“Thank you Minister @MarcGarneau and @Transport_GC for working hard to put these critical Flight Time/Duty Time Regulations in place and #KeepFlyingSafe for all of our Canadian @WeAreALPA members and the millions of passengers they fly every year. #FitToFly”

[groundpilot]

Two biggest sellouts in aviation right here

ACPA's Response:
https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/ ... 98661.html

The Air Canada Pilots Association, the largest single pilot group in Canada - representing more than 4,000 professional pilots across Canada who fly the vast majority of Canadian overseas flights, is gravely disappointed that Minister Garneau and the federal government are moving forward with substandard fatigue rules.

"To say that we are profoundly disappointed is an understatement. These substandard rules leave a two-hour gap between the maximum flight time for Canadian pilots flying at night, compared to what's recommended by NASA's Ames Research Centre, and two and a half hours longer than what U.S. pilots are allowed to fly," said Captain Matt Hogan, Chair of the ACPA Master Elected Council. "It is unbelievable that in the face of scientific evidence and international best practice our government expects pilots to fly two hours longer than what NASA says is safe."

The new rules will significantly impact Air Canada pilots flying for Air Canada Rouge, who will be subject to weaker fatigue regulations than on Air Canada's mainline. ACPA had proposed that measures be put in place to protect all pilots flying overseas long-haul flights at night.

"This is the first time in 20 years that Canada has updated its fatigue rules, yet here the government is delaying implementation until 2022 for smaller operators," said Milt Isaacs, CEO of ACPA. "The government's own statistics conclusively prove that it's these very pilots who need the most protection. It's unacceptable that they're forced to wait the longest for the new rules."

Almost every prescriptive limit set out in the government's regulations can be bypassed, thanks to the government's Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS). The government spent a decade developing these new rules, and operators now have a way to bypass the new regulations. By the government's own estimation, FRMS is expected to be implemented by operators on up to 20% of regulated flights, meaning that one fifth of flights would essentially have no effective oversight.

[Lightchop]

Well then ACPA should have gone and done some lobbying instead of infighting and selling off scope for a few widebodies.

[Capt. Underpants]

If ACPA truly wanted tougher rules, then they shouldn't have lobbied against the previous version which were a good bit stronger. They lobbied against them at the time not because of fatigue, but because of the affect they'd have on the lifestyle of their more senior membership. You can't have it both ways, folks.

[Cavalier44]

Are the new duty regulations perfect in every way? No, obviously there are areas where they could have been improved, certainly they fall short of American and other ICAO countries’ duty regulations. The concept of Fatigue Risk Management Systems (FRMS) in particular is flawed, and now allows operators to exploit a legal loophole to work around many of the new regulations, must the way certain northern operators have been able to exploit SMS to avoid TC oversight when they’re the ones that need to be scrutinized most closely.

With that being said, Canadian duty regs have been in desperate need of revision for years, and while these amended regs aren’t perfect, they provide a foothold for further incremental improvements in the years to come. ALPA, ACPA, and other stakeholders need to keep the pressure on TC to continue the process of updating our duty regs to be more in line with our colleagues south of the border. At this stage we cannot become complacent and allow these new regulations to stay in effect, unammended, for another 20 years. As pilots in this country we need to continue to push for science-based fatigue regulations, and we need to counter anti-scientific propaganda from organizations such as ATAC which are financially motivated to preserve or even weaken the currently existing regulations.

[altiplano]

Well said Cavalier.

I do think Adamus - on his way out the door - getting in his "big smiles" photo op with Garneau is where ALPA-C should be shaking their heads though.

[ei ei owe]

The bags makes it look like Adamus should respect the time free of duty in the new rules.

[sportingrifle]

Lightchop....you obviously have no idea how hard and how long ACPA has been working and lobbying on this issue. Doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling about joining ALPA either.

sportingrifle