The need for reasonable limits on flight time and duty time plus the need for regulations to ensure adequate rest between duty periods have been concerns for ALPA since the Association was created in 1931. Mini-chronology: Regulatory History of Flight Limitation Rules

More than half a century after ALPA’s inception and its advocacy on this important issue, in July 1985 F/O Bruce Woodruff (Delta), then chairman of the ALPA Flight Time/Duty Time Committee, wrote to ALPA’s Board of Directors regarding a final rule that the FAA had issued earlier that month, amending flight-time limits and rest requirements for airline pilots.

“For decades,” Woodruff wrote, “ALPA has struggled with interpretation of flight and duty regulations, coupled with noncompliance by the majority of air carriers. In addition, during that period the FAA issued numerous notices of proposed rulemaking (NPRMs) which would have been disastrous to ALPA had they gone into effect. Since 1980 alone, ALPA has successfully engineered the withdrawal of three such NPRMs.

“While NPRM 84-3 was basically favorable to ALPA, three proposed changes contained therein were not. . . . [However,] in this final rule all areas of concern outlined by ALPA have been addressed and are favorable to air safety.”

Fast-forward 24 years: Since Woodruff wrote the letter quoted above, ALPA has participated in several major efforts to bring flight-time and duty-time limits and minimum rest requirements into alignment with a growing body of scientific knowledge on fatigue, especially as it applies to flying the line. (Click here to see ALPA’s most recent involvement with this topic.)

Below are some highlights from recent years:

NPRM 95-18
A decade after the FAA issued its 1985 rule on flight- and duty-time limits and rest requirements, the agency proposed another rule change. Highlights of the 1995 proposal included:

• Reducing the duty-time limit from the current 16 hours to 14 hours for two-pilot flight crews. The proposal would have allowed increasing flight time to 10 hours in the 14 duty hours.
• Additional duty hours would be permitted only for unexpected operational problems, such as flight delays. In no event could such delays add more than 2 hours to a pilot’s duty day.
• Airlines could no longer schedule pilots in advance in a way that would exceed the duty-time limit.
• Minimum rest would be increased from 8 hours to 10 hours.
• Pilots would have to be given at least one 36-hour off-duty period every seven days (current rules call for a 24-hour minimum rest).

The FAA received more than 2,000 comments on NPRM 95-18, most of which did not favor the rule as proposed. In any case, no clear consensus emerged on what the final rule should say. The result: The agency issued no final rule.

To read NPRM 95-18 in its entirety—and ALPA’s response to it—visit the Flight Time/Duty Time Committee portion of the ALPA members-only website, crewroom.alpa.org.

1998 ARAC
In 1998, FAA Administrator Jane Garvey asked the Aviation Rulemaking Advisory Committee (ARAC) to work with the airline industry to reach consensus on a reserve rest requirement and said that, if no consensus could be reached (and it wasn’t), the FAA would subsequently enforce the current regulations. ALPA was a major player in the ARAC.

In February 1999, the ARAC reported its lack of consensus.

1999 Enforcement of Reserve Rest Rule
The failure of the 1998 ARAC to resolve the FAA’s non-enforcement of the reserve rest rule led ALPA to apply pressure to the FAA. In December, the agency informed airlines that it would, in fact, enforce the rule, which requires airlines to give pilots who are on reserve duty at least 9 hours of rest before being put on reserve (“on call”) status. Airlines had been interpreting the rule to say that no specified rest was required before a pilot could be called in to fly.

2008 FAA Fatigue Symposium
In June 2008, the FAA sponsored the Fatigue Symposium: Partnerships for Solutions to encourage the aviation community to proactively address aviation fatigue management issues. Participants included several ALPA pilot representatives, the National Transportation Safety Board, and many of the world’s leading authorities on sleep and human performance.

The symposium provided attendees with the most current information on fatigue physiology, management, and mitigation alternatives, including Fatigue Risk Management Systems (FRMS), perspectives from aviation industry experts and scientists on fatigue management, and information on the latest fatigue mitigation initiatives and best practices.

2007–Present: Renewed ALPA Priority on Updating Rules to End Fatigue
Beginning with the ALPA Executive Council’s strategic planning session in 2007, and continuing right through the present time, the Association has put renewed emphasis on, and resources behind, bringing flight-time and duty-time limits and rest requirements into the modern age.

In October 2007, ALPA’s president, Capt. John Prater, announced creation of the ALPA Blue Ribbon Panel on Fatigue, which built on the work done by the ALPA Pilot Fatigue Task Force created in 2005. Prater charged the five-pilot Blue Ribbon Panel with the task of reviewing the science and economics surrounding pilot fatigue as well as the regulations regarding flight-time and duty-time limits and minimum-rest requirements in both Canada and the United States. The Blue Ribbon Panel also developed recommendations on actions for ALPA’s leaders to take to address these serious concerns.

During the Association’s October 2008 Board of Directors meeting, the union recommitted itself to setting flight- and duty-time reform as a top strategic priority.

Acting on these actions by ALPA’s top governing bodies, the Association testified before the U.S. Congress several times during the period 2007–2009 regarding the need to overhaul the FAA’s antiquated rules. As a result of these public activities and the diligent behind-the-scenes work of ALPA’s Government Affairs Department, the Association:

• obtained language in both the Senate and House versions of the FAA reauthorization bill in 2007/2008 requiring the FAA to address flight- and duty-time issues, and kept that language in the 2009 FAA reauthorization bill, which has been passed by the House and is out of committee in the Senate, and
• got language included in H.R.3371, the Airline Safety and Pilot Training Improvement Act of 2009 (which the House passed on October 14), directing the FAA to update flight- and duty-time rules to incorporate current scientific knowledge about fatigue.

2009 Flight Time/Duty Time ARC
FAA Administrator J. Randolph Babbitt created an Aviation Rulemaking Committee (in which ALPA was a full participant) to develop consensus-based recommendations leading to an NPRM by the end of 2009, with a final rule expected by the end of 2010.

Mini-chronology: Regulatory History of Flight Limitation Rules
1931: Commerce Department sets monthly flight time limit of 110 hours. Operators want 140 hours/month, but ALPA’s founder and first president, Capt. Dave Behncke, campaigns for 85 hours/month.

1934: ALPA prevails—National Labor Board’s Decision 83 limits flight time to 85 hours per month.

1938: Substance of Decision 83 is incorporated into Civil Aeronautics Act of 1938. Civil Aeronautics Board (CAB, predecessor to FAA) issues domestic flight-time rules, limiting flight time to 8 hours in a 24-hour period.

1942: CAB amends rules to limit flight time to 30 hours/week.

1945–1947: CAB issues flag (international) and supplemental flight-time rules.

1953–1954: CAB amends supplemental and flag rules, saying deadheading is not rest.

1962: FAA issues moratorium on series of flight-time rules.

1976: ALPA sues FAA to remove moratorium.

1946–1982: CAB and FAA issue 30 proposals to amend flight-time limits.

1985: FAA revises domestic flight limit rules, establishing that rest is still required even after less than 8 hours of flight time, and includes a look-back provision.

1989: FAA limits two-pilot flight crews of aircraft in flag operations to 8 hours of flight time.

1985–1990: Air Transport Association (twice), Regional Airline Pilots Association, and ALPA file petitions for rulemaking.

1992: FAA issues bulletin to enforce interpretation of “reserve rest” rule, but in fact fails to enforce the rule.

1995: FAA issues NPRM 95-18 to revise all flight- and duty-time limits and rest requirements.

1999: After ALPA applies considerable public pressure, the FAA informs airlines that the agency will enforce the reserve rest rule, which requires airlines to give pilots on reserve duty at least 9 hours of rest before being put on reserve (“on call”) status.

2000–2008: No action by FAA.