Do Pilots Have Enough Layover Time - Essay Example

From time immemorial, most if not all toddlers have been having the passion of becoming a pilot when they are of age. This has been evidenced especially when they are asked about their career dreams and aspirations. However, in the recent past, most of the kids often tarry to seek more clarification on whether the pilots have enough layover time or not. (Nicole 23) Therefore, as a matter of concern, it is imperative to understand whether these pilots have enough time or not

CLAIM

Pilots and flight crewmembers usually suffer from jet lag and fatigue due to their overwork load.  Therefore, government legislators and the airlines should provide enough time for the crewmembers to rest.

REASONS

• Ensure that pilots’ performance is 100% proficient.
• Decrease the number of airplane crashes, thus the number of deaths.
• Save the lives of innocent passengers.
• Decrease the rate of insurance policy
• Pilots are human and therefore prone to errors.
• Pilots lose half of their assigned rest time in customs, activities, luggage claims, and driving from/to the hotel.
• 8 hours is not enough.
• To prevent fatigue.
• Provide more jobs for future pilots.

ASSUMPTION

• Pilots need to be in good shape to fly.
• Airlines overwork pilots.
• It’s a stressful job to be a pilot.
• FAA regulations are in favor of airlines than pilots.
• It takes a long time to get over jet lag.
• Pilots usually drink alcohol during their layover time and they don’t have enough time to recover from a hangover.

BACKING

Ordinarily, the nature of the work of the pilot is complex and this therefore calls for keenness, concentration, and a high level of reasoning. This is because a slight error caused by sleep or slumber can be very tragic. Normally rest is important for any living creature so as to enhance vigilance. Pilots being human are not an exemption. They are therefore prone to error. (Nicole 23)

In their published journal, International Journal of Aviation Psychology (1997), Wiegmann Douglas & Shappell Scott states that about 60% to 80% of military accidents and other aviation accidents in the US are usually caused by human error. These errors involve poor decision-making, the loss of situational awareness, and misleading information. These factors cause fatigue, which emanates from a lack of enough rest. The increasing rates of accidents prove that there is inadequate rest among pilots.

Normally, pilots with a short layover have a significantly slower response speed than a pilot with a longer layover time Therefore, the pilots do find shorter layovers more fatiguing than longer international layovers. According to The Journal of Biological & Medical Rhythm Research, Nicole stated that pilots are required to fly only 8 hours in one day. However; the airlines have their way to go around this rule since they overwork the pilots. A pilot is to fly for 8 hours, and then rest for 10 hours. Most of the airlines will probably make him/her fly the return flight, which makes him fly for more than he/she should fly in one day. This causes fatigue, which has been a major source of accidents. (Nicole 23)

Although it is argued that the FAA increased the minimum rest time for pilots from eight hours to ten hours. The Fact Sheet – Pilot Fatigue Rule Comparison, 2011 states that the time is technically not enough because pilots need to have eight hours of uninterrupted sleep within the allocated time.  This implies that the pilots will have the remaining two hours to do their customary activities such as visiting home or hotel to have something to eat, take a shower, and do other tasks before they go back to the airport to prepare for the next flight

Additionally, the Federal Aviation Administration has no clear distinction between eight hours required for sleep either during the day or the night. According to the article Sleep during the Day May Throw Genes into Disarray by Web Md, night's sleep has been proven by many studies to be healthier. Centrally, day sleep has negative health outcomes and it has proven to disrupt the genetic activity even more than not getting enough sleep. The pilots, therefore, do not get enough sleep, especially during the day based on these arguments

CONDITIONS OF REBUTTAL

• The Airlines cannot extend the layover time because there is a pilot shortage and there is high demand for transporting by airplane.
• The airlines will not extend the layover time because they will have to hire more pilots, which means more money to pay.
• Some pilots want to have shorter layover times because they look for the fastest way to go back home.
• Fatigue is overrated
• The airlines are following the rules of the FAA so why change them?

QUALIFIER

• For safer flights, pilots need more rest time.
• FAA needs to make more studies about the subject and enforce new safer rules.
• If the airlines comply with the extended layover time, more jobs will be offered to future pilots and most importantly they will help for a safer aviation industry.

From the discussed points above it is therefore right to say that most pilots who go the long distance do not have enough layover time. This makes them inefficient due to fatigue. This has been the major source of plane crashes and accidents. It is thus imperative for pilots to have enough sleep so as to decrease the number of deaths. The pilots should therefore have enough sleep. The FAA also needs to make more studies about the subject and enforce new, safer rules that will favor the pilots.