By PATRICK HOWINGTON The (Louisville, Ky.) Courier-Journal
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The union representing UPS pilots has filed suit to challenge the Federal Aviation Administration's exemption of cargo airlines from new rules that give pilots more rest.
The Louisville-based Independent Pilots Association on Thursday asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to review the FAA's final rules, which were issued Wednesday.
The new rules, aimed at preventing pilots from flying dangerously fatigued, increase pilots' rest periods and set limits on flying time -- but only for passenger airlines. While the proposed rules that the FAA unveiled last year would also have applied to cargo carriers, the final rules exempted them because the costs would have outweighed the benefits, the agency said.
The IPA said that doesn't make sense because cargo pilots, who mainly fly overnight, have the most need for the extra rest and restrictions on early morning cockpit hours embodied in the new rule.
"Two of the very factors that the FAA cites as exacerbating the risk of pilot fatigue -- operating at night and crossing multiple time zones -- are more present in cargo operations than in passenger operations," IPA General Counsel Robert Trent said in a statement.
In materials accompanying the statement, the IPA noted that the exemption leaves cargo airlines like Louisville-based UPS Airlines working under the old rules, which the FAA has said carry an "unacceptably high aviation accident risk."
The IPA's filing Thursday was a bare-bones petition asking the appeals court to review the FAA decision. The union said it will file a statement of issues it expects to raise in the case next month.
Challenges to decisions by federal agencies usually are made directly to a federal appeals court rather than to district courts, which are one rung lower.
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