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INBRIEF
Tower Closures
Some 149 airport air traffic control towers in
the United States will close June 15 because
of legislative requirements that the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA) cut $637 million
from its budget.
The FAA originally had planned to close the
facilities in April, but the agency said more time
was needed to resolve legal challenges to the
closure decisions.
“Safety is our top priority,” said Transportation
Secretary Ray LaHood. “We will use this
additional time to make sure communities and
pilots understand the changes at their local
airports.”
Operators of about 50 of the airports have said that they may attempt to finance tower operations themselves, and the extra time
will aid in the transition, the FAA said. Tower operations at the other airports will cease.
New Fatigue Rules in Australia
Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) has adopted new rules for
fatigue management for flight crewmembers, along with a timetable that calls
for a three-year transition to the new rule set.
The new approach is designed as a three-tier system, designed in recognition
that “fatigue is a complex aviation safety issue, that there is no one-size-fits-all
solution,” CASA said.
The first tier is a basic prescriptive system, with “relatively restrictive flight and
duty time limitations,” designed for use by operators that “do not have the capacity
or experience to integrate additional risk management concepts,” CASA said.
The first tier rules include requirements that a flight duty period be no longer
than nine hours in any one day, with no more than seven hours of flight time;
under certain circumstances, the duty period may be extended by one hour and the
flight time, by 30 minutes. Flight crewmembers also must have at least 12 consecutive
hours off during any 24-hour period and at least two days off during any
seven-day period.
The second tier is a fatigue management system, with more flexible flight
and duty time limits for pilots, and requirements for operators to identify fatigue
hazards and set appropriate flight and duty time limits after taking those hazards
into account.
The third tier is a fatigue risk management system (FRMS), intended for operators
that “seek to demonstrate an alternative approach to fatigue management,”
with requirements for operators to develop appropriate policies for risk management,
safety assurance and safety promotion processes.
In its discussion of the final rule set, CASA said that data from the Australian
Transport Safety Bureau indicates that human fatigue was a possible contributory factor
in about 78 aviation accidents or incidents in Australia between 2002 and 2012.
“Fatigue can undermine the crew’s capacity to deal effectively with threats
and errors,” CASA said. “Crews must be adequately alert to perform competently
in normal and abnormal operations, and this capacity needs to be protected at all
times, regardless of how benign a flight appears to be.”
Plotting Progress in India
Epolk/Wikimedia Commons
The International Air Transport
Association (IATA) is urging the
Indian government and industry
to cooperate on projects that IATA
says will enhance aviation safety,
security and efficiency throughout the
country.
IATA Director General and CEO
Tony Tyler praised as “a step in the
right direction” the Indian government’s
plan to replace the Directorate
General of Civil Aviation with a civil
aviation authority (CAA).
He said the new CAA should
consider incorporating the standards
of the IATA Operational Safety Audit
(IOSA) into the national safety oversight
framework for airlines.
“Safety is the industry’s number
one priority,” Tyler said, noting that
IOSA has played a significant role
in establishing voluntary global
safety standards.
“India is the great potential
market of the future, and the industry
here has only just begun to
realize its tremendous promise,” he
said. “If we are to realize that future,
we must successfully overcome
some major issues.”
10 | FLIGHT SAFETY FOUNDATION | AEROSAFETYWORLD | MAY 2013