Air Canada pilots say near collision should prompt better action on pilot fatigue
TORONTO — A near-collision of an Air Canada jet at San Francisco’s airport should be a wake-up call for the federal government to adequately address pilot fatigue for overnight flights, the union representing the airline’s pilots said Wednesday.
“I don’t know what else it would take to wake them up that this is a significant concern,” said Capt. Matt Hogan, chairman of the Air Canada Pilots Association master elected council.
The pilots’ group was responding to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which concluded that pilot error and fatigue were contributing factors to the July 2017 incident.
The NTSB issued 19 findings, including that current Canadian regulations don’t, in some circumstances, allow for sufficient rest for reserve pilots. The flight’s captain had been awake for more than 19 hours while the first officer on the flight from Toronto had been awake 12 hours.