If
the EMU student majoring in aviation completed their instrument and commercial
certifications under 141 the time requirements are: 1,000 hours total time, 21
years of age, 50 hours of multi-engine time, and 200 hours cross-country time.
However, we can only receive a restricted airline transport pilot certificate
until completing 1,500 hours total time. The rule has exceptions to obtain a
co-pilot certificate for military pilots who have flown at least 750 hours,
graduates of four-year colleges who have flown at least 1,000 hours and
graduates of two-year colleges who have flown at least 1,250 hours. Other parts
of the rule include: Requiring at least 1,000 flight hours as co-pilot to serve
as a captain for a U.S. airline. Enhancing training with 50 hours of
multi-engine flight experience (Jansen, 2013).
One issue that does exist with the
following regulation is the amount of students that have already completed
their instrument and commercial training under part 61. It can also be a problem
for the people that are in the middle of their training under part 61 and now
have to consider changing their training to 141. Being in this situation can
lead a person to feel mislead because they did not know of the ramifications of
the new regulation. Another issue that it can exist is the minimum time
requirements, because of the higher times required students have to find more
opportunities to meet the required times for specific areas.
There was a few changes from the
original proposal to the final rule. Fist adding that associates degree within
aviation or 1500 hours total time is acceptable for an R-ATP, as well as only
200 hours of cross country time for those who are eligible. The final rule more
clearly defined the requirements of a 141 schooling operation and the
requirements that are need to be certified. Minimum for academic credit hours
were raised to 30. Privileges of an ATP certificate and SIC privileges in flag
and supplemental operations requiring three or more pilots to hold a first-class
medical certificate. FFS time for multi-engine was raised to 25 hours. Military
PIC time in a multi-engine turbine-powered, fixed-wing airplane in an operation
requiring more than one pilot up to 500 hours.
I find the new regulation to be both
beneficial and as well as challenging. The benefits are the lower time
requirements by attending college for a degree in aviation. This will help the
chances for someone who has a degree in aviation become eligible for a job soon
than someone that did their flight training separate from college, this puts
students that studied aviation at a great advantage. I have decided to do all
my training 141 before this regulation was final, allowing me to continue on
the path I have chosen. The only challenge is being able to build time in the
areas that are required. Now with the minimum time being higher it will be more
time consuming to reach them.
Some ramifications that may face the
regional airlines is the amount of required pilots. In the early stages of the
new requirement there may be many pilots that were available that will have to
look at other options. Not only could the new regulation limit the availability
of pilots, it could as defer future pilot from beginning or continuing their
training because of the high amount of hours required. This could lead to
higher prices for the pilots, which in short term sounds great for the pilots,
however, in the long term could lead to less businesses providing less
opportunity for the pilots that will have limited options if they are existent.
Terry Maxon makes several key observations regarding this new regulation,
"a large group of pilots in their 50s and early 60s approach the mandatory
retirement age of 65. The supply of pilots trained in the military continues to
shrink. The high cost of going through private pilot training discourages
potential pilots. The career stagnation of more than a decade that slowed new hiring
at many airlines. Pay freezes, pay cuts, contract concessions and other factors
have made the profession less attractive (Dallas News, 2013)." This is
only a possibility, therefore the results could be drastically different.
I feel that FAR 61.160 was just a
reactive measure. I strongly feel that the regulation will not improve the
safety of the industry. Jeff Schneider makes a strong point that the regulation
will have no effect on safety, "Through analyzing more than 40 NTSB
accident reports from 1991-2012, including Part 91, 121 and 135 scheduled
flights... There was no direct correlation between a single individual’s
inexperience and overall safety of the aircraft. Instead, it was the
combination of flight-crew experience that correlated with fatal accidents.
Since the majority of aircraft are flown by a crew, not just one pilot, it is
the culmination of both pilots’ mistakes that leads to mishaps (Aviationweek,
2013)." The reason behind this
thinking is that for most pilots we will be doing flight instructing or working
for a smaller company flying the same routes only going a limited distance away
from their base. Having someone fly to the practice are for an extra year does
not necessarily mean you are gaining meaningful experience or time. Not only is
the aircraft that are being used meant for training, they are very limited in
range, altitude, and speed, most likely pilots will not be flying them
professionally for an airline. Not to say that the time gained doing so is wasted
but how much are the pilots learning and how much are they gaining from these
flights? Quality over quantity is what should be considered when trying to
improve a situation. Someone can only learn and experience a limited amount
doing the same thing on a daily basis. The new regulations are expected to have
the greatest impact on safety at smaller, regional air carriers, where
entry-level pilots are typically hired with only a few hundred hours (Lowy,
2013). If anything I see this regulation only slightly lowering accidents or
incidents, not enough to have a significant effect on the industry.
References
Jansen,
Bart (July 10, 2013). FAA requires more pilot training after Colgan crash. Online
retrieved from
http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/flights/2013/07/10/faa-pilot- training-colgan-crash/2505499/.
Last Accessed September 15, 2013.
Lowy,
Joan (July 10,2013). FAA Expands Commercial Airline Co-Pilot Qualifications.
Online retrieved from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/10/faa-commerical-pilot- qualifications_n_3573940.html.
Last Accessed September 15, 2013.
Maxon,
Terry. (2013, July 10). FAA will require airline pilots to have at least 1,500
flight hours.Dallas news [Dallas].
Retrieved from http://aviationblog.dallasnews.com/ 2013/07/15604.html/.
Last Accessed September 15, 2013
Schneider,
Jeff (September 11, 2013 ). Viewpoint: New Pilot Requirements Are Misguided. Online
retrieved from http://www.aviationweek.com/Article.aspx?id=/article-xml/ awx_09_11_2013_p0-615324.xml.
Last Accessed September 15, 2013.
Steve, I like how you brought up that individual performance was never an issue in terms of safety, but more likely the "crew" aspect. We are constantly preached the idea of CRM in class, yet there is never a lesson in our flight training that requires multiple students to work together on a flight in a crew setting. If the majority of our flying careers will not be solo, why such an emphasis on the individual in primary training?
ReplyDeleteSteve, you are right on! The flight hour increase does not necessarily equate to the better pilot training. Also, flight crews have often been the cause of these accidents, not a single pilot. There are procedures to flying as a crew as well as seniority in the cockpit. In my opinion, 500 flight hours with crew flights rather than solo time would be a much beneficial training with regards to CRM than quadrupling the solo time in efforts to improve safety of flights.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you brought up the quality over quantity debate for this issue. Quality over quantity is battle that is involved in almost every industry, but I never thought we'd see it affect our industry so drastically. I feel, like you, that the 1000 hours of training necessary is not guaranteed to be useful flight hours. Personally I feel like by making pilots be 141 certified the amount of hours needed could be much lower than the necessary 1000. On the other side I do feel like there needed to be an increase in the necessary hours than where it was before the law was passed. There could be some kind of compromise found, and hopefully there will be in the future.
ReplyDeleteI believe you make a good point about the students that are already in the middle of part 61 training. I actually am dealing with that right now with one of my students. It turns out that only 25% of their training from part 61 can be transferred to part 141. Many may end up retraining over stuff that they already know just so that they can be under part 141. I think that this is ridiculous that pilots are going to have to waste more money on training because of this 141 requirement.
ReplyDelete