George’s Point of View
Remember that old Herodotus misquote inscribed on the James A Farley Post Office Building: “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds.“?
The iconic postman is viewed as being the superman of civil servants, intrepid deliverers, come what may. (For those of you born after 1997, the mythos of the intrepid postal carrier predates the movie. Bless Kevin Costner’s heart)
That iconoclastic perspective will stand unchallenged by pilots if the FAA goes ahead in its move to impose stringent regulations limiting pilot flight time. The bill includes some $8 billion for airport construction and pilot scheduling limitations designed to lessen the incidence of accidents related to pilot fatigue.
However the effectiveness of this bill may be challenged by an amendment exempting some pilots (those flying for nonscheduled carriers and charter flights carrying commercial cargo) from the amendments intended “fatigue protection.”
Are cargo pilots and charter pilots built of sterner stuff? Are they eating their Wheaties and consuming super-charged vitamins? Are they really supermen who are not affected by the debilitating fatigue of lesser men? Is the biology of this select group of pilots different from all other pilots so that they are immune?
What do you think?
Maybe, just maybe, this new amendment is designed to sacrifice safety concerns in favor of profit.
No kidding.
There is no place for exemptions in this bill.
However, that said, one hopes common sense will be applied in military situations. Say, for example, it is wartime. Can you see some 2011 era John Wayne pilot watching the second hand on his stopwatch and scrubbing a mission based on a peacetime standard? Is some squad somewhere going to have to stop in mid-mission due to a peacetime regulation? How doubly stupid would it be to give any faction opposing us the foreknowledge of such controlling factors. It’s the 2011 equivalent of the British sending their troops out in formation, to be picked off by guerilla fighting Americans. Are we the stupid ones with targets on our chests now?
Let pilots flying commercial aviation have their reasonable hours, and leave the heroism and exemptions up to the military.
And to mailmen too, of course—long may they be by snow, rain, heat and gloom of night, “unstayed.”
Pilot accused of stalking a woman from the sky arrested
Spokane native in hospital after plane crash near Portland, 2 others dead
Feel the Bern: How was your Sunday without a Detroit Lions game?
Terrifying moment plane spirals down from sky into home and kills two
Take the stress out of plane travel with The Parking Spot
This researcher doesn’t want to travel by plane to reduce his emissions. His University says they’ll sack him
Armed police called to troubled estate after reports of ‘gun’
An Autonomous Osprey MK III Just Passed a Key Military Test
2 dead, 1 injured after plane crashes through Oregon home
Cause Of Plane Crash That Killed Former Ex-NFL Player Russ Francis Revealed | 1490 WBEX
Cause Of Plane Crash That Killed Former Ex-NFL Player Russ Francis Revealed | NewsRadio KFBK
How Dodgy Spare Parts Got Into Jet Engines, Leaving Airlines Scrambling
Amanda Holden jumps 13,000ft from plane in tandem skydive
Terrifying moment aircraft spirals out of sky and smashes into home killing two
PIA says flight operations normal after plane ‘stopped’ in Canada
Tomlin: Steelers’ lack of physicality is nothing practice can’t fix
2 Dead, 1 Injured as Plane Plunges Into Roof of Home
ICC World Cup 2023: Pakistan Skipper Babar Azam Flies In Chartered Plane To Ahmedabad And Meets Rohit Sharma (WATCH)
Russ Francis’ plane lost power in moments before fatal New York crash
Investigators working to determine exactly what caused North Dakota state senator’s plane to crash
