I. Summary
Air France flight 447 leaving Rio De Janeiro, Brazil heading to Paris, France plunged into the Atlantic due to pilot error. Inexperienced pilot placed the Airbus A330 aircraft in stall condition and was unable to recover the aircraft prior to crashing in the ocean. Investigations proved that 2 out of the 3-man crew were sleeping when the airplane entered the stall condition.
II. Problem
Aircraft Captain did not sleep during his two night stay in Rio. Investigations show that Captain Dubois only had one hours sleep prior to reporting for duty. He was enjoying the city with his girlfriend and was too tired upon taking command of the aircraft (news.com.au, 2014).
II. Significance of the Problem
The significance of pilot fatigue is life-threatening.
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They are in place for a reason. FAA mandates that a pilot have no more than eight-nine hours of flight time and a ten hours’ minimum rest time. These rules are in place to make sure that the pilot have eight hours of uninterrupted sleep with that same ten-hour period (FAA, 2012). A rested pilot will be able to stay alert in duration of his/her flight and will be able to respond to emergency situations much sooner. Airlines need to be selective in Hotel placement. Placing a crew in a hotel where crew might be tempted to go out sign see or party should be avoided. This would eliminate the possibilities of crew not abiding to the crew rest period. Hotels contracted to support crew rest also need to be involved and monitor the crew and report anyone that has failed to abide by the rules. Crew members that violate these rules should be fined and banned from flying on their scheduled flights. I would also suggest treating this like a DUI, meaning if someone violates the crew rest time, they will be banned for a few flights on their first offense. Penalties would increase with the number of offenses possibly leading to the crew being removed from