2 ms·

To improve airline safety, give all pilots the same schedule

• frossie 17y ago
  Very interesting point about how the current seniority rules result in the more inexperienced pilots flying tired. Does it have to be done this way? No. NetJets and many other corporate jet operators have the same schedule for all of their pilots. In the case of NetJets, it is 7 days on and 7 days off. I suspect that for people not used to the current system (and therefore not smarting at the perceived loss of a privilege), this would work much better in the long term. In my experience the most critical part of any kind of shift work is to make it predictable; this not only allows the person to make sure they are in a decent state when they turn up for work, but it decreases family tension, especially in patterns like 7-on/7-off, which makes it very easy for the family to predict ahead of time when the shift working parent will be around. The problem with 7-on/7-off is what happens when your on pilot gets sick; you either need to be overstaffed, or you have to be able to contract in short-term labour, or you have to call in one of your off workers, which then starts to mess things up.
  • brc 17y ago
    With the size of most airlines, you could count on some pilots being unwell, and come up with a model for it. The worst case would be that the occasional pilot would be being paid to do nothing because everyone turned up well and on time. This overbooking of pilots would probably cost less and have less disruption than breaking other peoples schedules. The model is one where Game Theory is suited to modelling the outcomes. The senior pilots don't want to lose their priveleges, the airlines don't want to lose their senior pilots. Yet the airlines also want to attract the best up-and-coming pilots, so having a predictable schedule would probably work as a recruiting draw.