Smoking Hole in Pakistan. Courtesy of AP.
Yet another deadly “smoking hole in the ground” adds to the continuing trail of death left by sleepless and tired pilots being stretched beyond their limits by schedules designed to maximize profits for their employers.
The worst air crash in Pakistan’s history of Airblue’s flight ED-202 from Karachi to Islamabad killing all 152 aboard may be attributed to pilot fatigue according to the President of Pakistan Air Lines Pilots Association (PALPA). Captain Sohail Baloch told a private news channel “The pilot may be suffering from accumulated fatigue because they are not given adequate leaves.” He added that the pilot was not in a no-fly zone and speculated that the plane was off course due to bad weather. The pilot had to ”resort to visual queues for landing” because communication with the control tower had been lost due to the weather.
The Hindu.com reports that the pilot , Pervez Iqbal Chaudhry, “had 35 years of experience and had logged over 25,000 flying hours.” Airblue official Raheel Ahmed was quoted in the same article explaining that the Airbus A321 was ten years old, had been used by them for the past four years, and was fully serviceable with no technical faults. Pakistan’s Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that the aircraft at 2600 feet was cleared to land when it rose up to 3000 feet for no apparent reason and then disappeared from the radar. “The (control) tower did not receive any SOS message or report of a technical problem before the crash,” Malik said.
Only nine weeks ago the world was mourning the loss of 158 people in an Air India crash in the Mangalore hills. That “smoking hole” left eight survivors. The experienced British pilot of that flight misjudged his landing so badly (2000 feet) that “senior pilots, including the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (IPCA) are already blaming pilot fatigue for being responsible for the major accident,” as reported in a China Post article. Two years before that “an Air India Express flight from Mumbai to Dubai overshot its destination by 350 miles after its pilots apparently fell asleep due to fatigue.” The ICPA in response to the Mangalore crash sent a letter to the Prime Minister complaining that “up to 78 percent of crashes were caused by fatigue-related human error.” Flight and Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) in India have not been changed since 1992 when they had no scientific basis for the regulations. Attempts were made in 2005 to change the FDTL but the rule changes were withdrawn under pressure from the “private operators.”
The flight and duty time restrictions worldwide reflect the lack of response from the FAA to the plethora of data now available regarding the effects of sleep deprivation upon mental and physical performance. Our rule changes were dropped in 1995 in response the airline industry’s complaints. Even the unions, strongly supported by then President Bill Clinton, wanted to drop the duty time hours from 16 to 14 hours. Andy Pasztor, in a Wall Street Journal article titled “Dispute Over Cost Delays Pilot Rules,” blames the delay in the rule changes on a dispute between the FAA and the White House Office of Management and Budget. Budget officials have told the FAA informally that “the proposal’s projected cost to airlines wasn’t justified by the anticipated safety benefits.” Since the FAA is controlled by former air line executives and Washington is still held in the firm grip of powerful airline lobbyists like Linda Daschle we cannot expect the “change” promised by our President in the flowered oratory of his campaign.
The European Cockpit Association, a group of pilots unions with over 38,000 members, accuses the European Union (EU) of “ “endangering air safety by failing to act on the recommendations of experts who say cuts in flying hours are needed to curb pilot fatigue.” The Air Canada Pilots Association, with over 7,000 members, has been asking for changes to Transport Canada’s regulations for years. Dave Ross, of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, representing pilot unions at six regional airlines, says, “It’s money. If you can’t fly as long as you do today, then that increases your cost.”
The world continues to scream the alarms to the FAA. The FAA’s mission statement is “to provide the safest, most efficient aerospace system in the world.” The FAA’s vision statement is “ to reach the next level of safety, efficiency, environmental responsibility and global leadership. We are accountable to the American public and our stakeholders.” The world waits, awake to the ever increasing danger of sleepless and tired pilots threatening our lives. The FAA, Congress, and the Administration continue to hit the snooze button while confined to the bedroom of the airline industry’s sleep inducing lobbyists.
The “smoking holes” of death and the smells of burning flesh are permeating the atmosphere of Obama’s flowery campaign rhetoric about cleaning up the halls of Washington. In 2007 newsmax.com reported on Mr. Obama’s lamenting the fact that “the disproportionate influence of lobbyists and special interest is a problem in Washington (and) in state capitals.” He admitted then that he was “swimming in the same muddy water” and that he knows the waters are muddy. He said “I want to clean it up.” The world is waiting for Mr. Obama, Mr. Babbitt (FAA Administrator), and Mr. LaHood (Transportation Secretary) to exit the bedroom of the airline industry’s sleep inducing lobbyists and go to work on new pilot fatigue regulations. The safety of millions flying the skies continue to see the smoke and to smell the burning flesh. The time has come for you to douse the flames.
Here’s a link to a very sad slide show of crash site photos, courtesy of AP and thehindu.com: http://www.thehindu.com/news/international/article538554.ece
Another link to a related article from thehindu.com: http://www.thehindu.com/news/article540335.ece
Copyright 2010. All rights reserved to Ronald Czarnecki.
