Commercial airline pilots are begging for a break amid scheduling chaos.
Pilots say they're exhausted. Airlines are changing their flight schedules in light of rising fuel costs, interrupting regular rotations. Crew members have had to work on their days off. Some pilots have arrived at overnight destinations with no hotel rooms.
“Even though the FAA has a maximum number of flight hours that a pilot can fly in the course of a month and a day, the airlines can still push that to its limit,” Aviation analyst Jay Ratliff said. “Pilots and flight attendants are now less prone to pick up extra shifts.”
Earlier this month, Delta Air Lines crew members protested in Atlanta, saying they're overworked. Ratliff agrees that it’s a safety issue.
“This is a situation that needs to be taken care of and taken care of quickly because right now we’re at a point where we just have too many pilots that are complaining about things,” he explained. “The last thing that we want to have are pilots that are working tired or with any exhaustion at all.”