The market has decided your safety is no longer essential
I overheard a conversation this morning on MSNBC that confused me. There was a segment about The Things Pilots Know, during which the anchor read an email sent in by a pilot. Apparently, pilots are under enormous pressure to fly with less fuel in order to save money. This pilot confessed that he feels incredible discomfort flying with the new fuel requirements.
Then, MSNBC brought on another pilot who confirmed the claim in the email, and called the new fuel standards a “negotiation” between the pilot and his/her overseers. MSNBC covered this story in the past, too.
As cash-strapped airlines pack more passengers on flights into ever-busier airports, pilots are filing internal complaints warning that airline cost-cutting on fuel supplies could be creating a major safety risk.
The complaints, compiled by msnbc.com and NBC News from a database of safety incident reports maintained on behalf of the Federal Aviation Administration, reveal wide-ranging concern among pilots that airlines are compelling them to fly with too little fuel.
…
FAA regulations are precise: A plane must take off with enough primary fuel to reach its destination and then its most distant alternate airport based on conditions. It must carry a reserve of 45 minutes’ worth of fuel on top of that.
But Karl Schricker, a spokesman for the 12,000-member Allied Pilots Association, the largest independent pilots union, said some pilots believed the FAA guidelines were not enough in an era when airlines are seeking to save costs by having aircraft carry the minimum fuel required. If a pilot has to stay in a long holding pattern before landing, the extra fuel can dwindle quickly.
I’m confused, though. Mr. Rand Paul has been telling me The Market decides what’s best, so if The Market says FAA fuel standards at too high, and they’re hurting airline businesses, then doesn’t that mean the airlines should be able to force pilots to fly with two drops of gasoline in the tank?
I mean, I like my life, and all, but I don’t think it’s worth much on the S&P, even if I fly all the time.
Capitalism will save you on the way down to Earth when the plane runs out of gas…. oh and thank Jesus too.
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WSJ stooge
18 Oct 10 at 2:54 pm
Die, Peasants, Die. Give your lives so that The Plutocratic Nobility, who are the Elect of God Almighty, can be blessed with more money, GIVEN TO THEM BY THE LORD OF HOSTS!!!!!
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MS
18 Oct 10 at 2:59 pm
I was once on a flight to Seattle into a headwind, and we had to divert to Spokane because WE RAN OUT OF FUEL. I don’t see how diverting to Spokane is cheaper than having a bit more fuel in the tanks.
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Twist
18 Oct 10 at 6:52 pm
You don’t understand the free market will fix everything. Because planes are falling out of the sky people will stop flying on those airlines, and in self interests they will put more fuel in the tank. Sure it will suck to be on the many flights that will have to drop out of the sky before ticket sales drop off enough for the airlines to start putting more fuel in the plane’s tank. In the end it will be less expensive for all of us, not unlucky enough to be on those doomed flights, because we all know that when a corporation’s operation costs go down they always lower prices. Because this is text I feel like I should point out that I am being facetious.
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Super Justin
19 Oct 10 at 6:52 am
Patrick Smith on Salon.com covered this topic a few times, here’s an example:
http://www.salon.com/technology/ask_the_pilot/2008/04/25/askthepilot274
Might be a fun interview-ee.
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Paulie
22 Oct 10 at 1:08 am