Crew Rest Guidelines

Introduction

The crew rest guidelines act came to be in 1959 and has helped distinguish between the American flights and others from different countries. The guidelines ensure that the flights are safe, and the pilots and their staff are in decent shape of operation. This ensures quality services and security of the crew. The acts specify what to do their delays either land or take off from the required point.

The Rules

The rules guide the plane owners and airline operating companies. The guidelines are used to specify the number of hours that a pilot should work, and the schedule they should follow.

The 30 in 7 rule comprising the act 121 is used as guidance on the number of hours that the pilot should work per month and in seven days. The rule states that a pilot should not exceed 30 hours per month and not more than seven days a week. The month bailing starts on every first day of the month while the weekly bailing starts at the beginning of every trip. The code is strict, and all involved persons and groups are expected to observe this. The annual bailing is also contained in this act and only allows a pilot to fly for a maximum of 1000 hours (Power-Waters 2008). The yearly schedule marking starts at every 1st of January. This helps ensure the pilots are not fatigued and avoid accidents.

The operating companies try to maintain this order by instructing their pilots to overfly certain stop overs increase of delays. This ensures that the pilots catch up with time but retain their resting time per flight as required by the crew rest guidelines. This ensures the schedule for other flights is not affected by the single delay and that the routine and target hours only are utilized (Wiener 1995).

The companies try to ensure efficiency and passengers’ safety by ensuring they allow for possible delays in their schedules. This allows the pilots to be relaxed when operating as they are sure to get their target schedules irrespective of the delays. It also allows pilots time for adjustments incase of rescheduling (Federal Aviation Administration 2008).

Conclusion

It is evident that the crew rest guidelines are effective measures to allow for better crew operation. The scheduling helps reduce pressure on the plane crew and thus ensure safety of the passengers, goods and the plane. This distinguishes the American Airlines from the other airlines in the world. The other airlines in the world should take up measures to improve their services.