Union Or Not

[Guest Bullet Remington]

Let's start a letter writing campaign right here and now to get some duty day limits for engineers! Anyone know who we should be writing to? If we get on this and involve the other online forums in Canada and get everyone online to involve their colleagues, we could get enough momentum to push a change!!

 

Dick

 

Check out CD's post under College of professional Pilots. Also on www.tc.gc.ca "Maintenance and manufacturing"I believe. Transport has two Notice of Proposed Amendments in the works, back in 2004. I believe the numbers were NPA 2004-059 and 2004-060 . Both of these NPA's addressed Engineer fatigue. Both thes NPA's went down the crapper.

 

I really don't see TCCA jumping on th band wagon to restart theses NPAs. BUt a letter writing exercise may get things moving, IF more participation can be garnered. But given the out pouring of support that HEPAC got, I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to happen.

 

I don't see duty times ever being imposed upon AME's. Owners won't let that happen.

 

While there are those that admire the work ethic of the mechanics, it has basically become a necessity. Engineers RARELY get minimums. Ig the machine is down for maintenance or for weather, the engineer gets no minimum flighty pay. It is only if the machine is flying . consequent;y, IF the engineer wishes to have a good season, he has to work his/her pahtootie off to maintain the machine and increase his income.

 

That's just a fact of the business.

[Guest Bullet Remington]

Notice of Proposed Amendments (NPA) Special Joint Technical Committee Meeting on Maintenance and Manufacturing (M&M)-Part V and Commercial Air Service Operations (CASO)-Part VII

May 31 - June 1, 2005

 

Notice of Proposed Amendments (NPA 2004-059)

Reference / référence CAR / RAC 573.16 (6) NPA 2004-059

English Title / titre anglais Fatigue Risk Management System

French Title / titre français Programme de gestion de risques liés à la fatigue

Sponsor / bureau responsable AARP

Language (E - F -Both / langue A - F - les deux) Both / Les deux

 

Issue / Objet :

 

There is currently no regulation addressing the management of fatigue related hazards in aviation maintenance. Nor is there a duty time limitation prohibiting excessive shift durations and consecutive days of work. This proposed amendment provides for the implementation of a fatigue risk management system in approved maintenance organizations.

 

Justification for Change / Justification de la modification:

 

In 1996 the Safety of Air Taxi Operations (SATOPS) Task force recommended that Transport Canada "...initiate a Canadian Aviation Regulation Advisory Council (CARAC) review to determine if AME duty times should be regulated, and if so, determine appropriate limitations." As a result of this recommendation, Transport Canada commissioned a study to assess the impact of fatigue in the civil aviation maintenance environment.

 

The study, conducted independently for Transport Canada by Dr. Wayne Rhodes, looked at the impact of fatigue on human performance through an analysis of numerous variables, including: shift duration, shift times, number of consecutive days worked, geographic location and type of work arrangement. The study also considered personal variables such as family status, number of jobs held and age and sex of the participants. The AME duty time survey provided evidence to suggest that fatigue and excessive periods of work may be present in the workforce.

 

As a result of the survey it became clear that fatigue induced maintenance errors might pose a significant problem in Canada. The issue of how to deal with this potential problem was discussed during two special purpose CARAC Part V Technical Committee meetings. As a result of these discussions, two clear positions emerged. The first was a clear consensus that traditional approaches to fatigue based on prescriptive limits to duty times were unlikely to be an effective solution. There was also a reasonable level of doubt expressed about whether such an approach would actually achieve the stated goal of improving safety.

 

Given the range of operational settings found within the Canadian aviation industry, it is doubtful that any set of prescriptive rules could be sufficiently flexible to embrace all of the industry operating environments. In addition, this approach could be unwieldy and bureaucratic and unnecessarily expensive with respect to compliance and enforcement.

 

Accordingly, Transport Canada is introducing a non-prescriptive approach with this NPA.

 

Current Text / Texte actuel;

 

There is no current text.

 

[Guest Bullet Remington]

Notice of Proposed Amendments (NPA) Special Joint Technical Committee Meeting on Maintenance and Manufacturing (M&M)-Part V and Commercial Air Service Operations (CASO)-Part VII

May 31 - June 1, 2005

 

Notice of Proposed Amendments (NPA 2004-060)

Reference / référence Standard / Norme 573.16 (6) NPA 2004-060

English Title / titre anglais Fatigue risk management systems

French Title / titre français Programme de gestion de risques liés à la fatigue

Sponsor / bureau responsable AARP

Language (E - F -Both / langue A - F - les deux) Both / Les deux

 

Issue / Objet :

 

There is currently no regulation addressing the management of fatigue related hazards in aviation maintenance. Nor is there a duty time limitation prohibiting excessive shift durations and consecutive days of work. This proposed amendment provides for the implementation of a fatigue risk management system in approved maintenance organizations.

 

Justification for Change / Justification de la modification:

 

In 1996 the Safety of Air Taxi Operations (SATOPS) Task force recommended that Transport Canada "...initiate a Canadian Aviation Regulation Advisory Council (CARAC) review to determine if AME duty times should be regulated, and if so, determine appropriate limitations." As a result of this recommendation, Transport Canada commissioned a study to assess the impact of fatigue in the civil aviation maintenance environment.

 

The study, conducted independently for Transport Canada by Dr. Wayne Rhodes, looked at the impact of fatigue on human performance through an analysis of numerous variables, including: shift duration, shift times, number of consecutive days worked, geographic location and type of work arrangement. The study also considered personal variables such as family status, number of jobs held and age and sex of the participants. The AME duty time survey provided evidence to suggest that fatigue and excessive periods of work may be present in the workforce.

 

As a result of the survey it became clear that fatigue induced maintenance errors might pose a significant problem in Canada. The issue of how to deal with this potential problem was discussed during two special purpose CARAC Part V Technical Committee meetings. As a result of these discussions, two clear positions emerged. The first was a clear consensus that traditional approaches to fatigue based on prescriptive limits to duty times were unlikely to be an effective solution. There was also a reasonable level of doubt expressed about whether such an approach would actually achieve the stated goal of improving safety.

 

Given the range of operational settings found within the Canadian aviation industry, it is doubtful that any set of prescriptive rules could be sufficiently flexible to embrace all of the industry operating environments. In addition, this approach could be unwieldy and bureaucratic and unnecessarily expensive with respect to compliance and enforcement.

 

Accordingly, Transport Canada is introducing a non-prescriptive approach with this NPA.

 

Current Text / Texte actuel;

 

There is no current text.

 

New Text / Nouveau texte:

 

[splitpin]

Looks like the only way to get action is for a whole pile of people to get killed and have the cause traced back to Engineer fatigue. I know, a cruel thing to say, but look how the shyte hit the fan about fatigue and pilot working conditions after the Colgan crash. However, it remains to be seen if anything is ever done.

 

John Nixon

[splitpin]

Sorry, double post.