
To improve airline safety, give all pilots the same schedule - apu
http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/philg/2009/05/21/to-improve-airline-safety-give-all-pilots-the-same-schedule/
======
frossie
Very interesting point about how the current seniority rules result in the
more inexperienced pilots flying tired.

 _Does it have to be done this way? No. NetJets and many other corporate jet
operators have the same schedule for all of their pilots. In the case of
NetJets, it is 7 days on and 7 days off._

I suspect that for people not used to the current system (and therefore not
smarting at the perceived loss of a privilege), this would work much better in
the long term. In my experience the most critical part of any kind of shift
work is to make it predictable; this not only allows the person to make sure
they are in a decent state when they turn up for work, but it decreases family
tension, especially in patterns like 7-on/7-off, which makes it very easy for
the family to predict ahead of time when the shift working parent will be
around.

The problem with 7-on/7-off is what happens when your on pilot gets sick; you
either need to be overstaffed, or you have to be able to contract in short-
term labour, or you have to call in one of your off workers, which then starts
to mess things up.

~~~
brc
With the size of most airlines, you could count on some pilots being unwell,
and come up with a model for it. The worst case would be that the occasional
pilot would be being paid to do nothing because everyone turned up well and on
time. This overbooking of pilots would probably cost less and have less
disruption than breaking other peoples schedules.

The model is one where Game Theory is suited to modelling the outcomes. The
senior pilots don't want to lose their priveleges, the airlines don't want to
lose their senior pilots. Yet the airlines also want to attract the best up-
and-coming pilots, so having a predictable schedule would probably work as a
recruiting draw.

