Airline pilots appear more concerned than ever about getting the right amount of rest. In the past, fatigue has been cited as a contributing factor in airplane accidents, which makes rest critical and safety the key issue.

That's why this statistic is so important: When the Air Line Pilots Association polled its membership in a recent survey, 62.8 percent of those surveyed say they are fatigued.

“No industry was harder hit by the 9/11 terrorist attacks than the U.S. airline industry,” says ALPA’s president Capt. John Prater, in a prepared statement. “To keep our airlines in business, pilots made major contract concessions, which resulted in many of our members working at or near regulatory limits for flight-  and duty-time.”

Prater contends these current flight-  and duty-time limits are really just a patchwork of rules developed decades ago before the advent of jet airliners. He maintains these rules fail to take into account today’s science, flight schedules, aircraft equipment, human physiology and travel distances.

In the statement, ALPA is calling for “a complete overhaul of existing regulations.” That overhaul would encompass what the union terms “adequate rest periods, reasonable duty periods, and special provisions for…crossing multiple time zones.”

Why is the pilot perspective so critical?

“We’re the ones who know what works and what doesn’t,” asserts Captain Prater. “We’re the ones with the view through the cockpit window.”

© Cheapflights Ltd Jerry Chandler