There are new regulations coming for Canadian pilots.

The federal government is moving forward with new regulations to better protect passengers and pilots from pilot fatigue after growing concerns.

The new regulations will create lower limits for the number of hours a pilot can be in the air for and the changes to how often pilots must take breaks. 

Local Pilot, Bruce* says the changes are certainly welcomed.

"For me as a pilot, myself and the company I work for it's not going to be a massive change since the rules my company has in place is in line with the new rules already but for low-cost airline carriers and their pilots these changes are significant because they tend to pinch money to get more time out of their crews."

Among the changes, a few major items stick out. 

Pilots previously were not allowed to consume alcohol eight hours prior to their check-in time before a flight, that number has now changed to twelve hours. 

"The really good thing is the changes to alcohol consumption, pilots used to be able to drink eight hours prior to a flight now it's twelve which is standard among most big airlines." 

The new rules also lower the amount of time a pilot can spend flying in a year. The new rules reduce the total number of hours from 1,200 over 365 days to 1,000.

"I have done the long hours at other airlines and it's doable but its certainly not ideal, these changes are a nice change for sure."

 

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*Name has been changed