FAA looks into complaints about flight scheduling

Associated Press

DALLAS — The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating several complaints that American Airlines is tinkering with the Dallas-Hawai'i flight schedule to avoid paying for a relief pilot, an official said yesterday.

The FAA investigation was prompted in part by a letter from a 21-year veteran American Airlines pilot alleging safety violations.

Capt. Rich Rubin criticized a decision last month to reduce staffing from three pilots to two on its daily Boeing 767 flights from Dallas to Honolulu and Maui.

Herwig said investigations into flight schedules are "not uncommon, but they're not common." He expected the inquiry to take about a month. Rubin asked regulators to force American to add a third pilot on the flight to prevent pilot fatigue.

American spokesman Gus Whitcomb said the company cut the number of pilots from three to two because of seasonal changes in prevailing winds that allowed the flight to be completed in less time.

He said the return flight is about 7 hours 30 minutes, which is under the limit at which federal regulations require a relief pilot.

However, Rubin said the company is pressuring pilots to fly faster to keep flight time under eight hours so that a relief pilot isn't legally required. FAA regulations require a third pilot on flights in excess of eight hours.

The shorter flight time is not backed up by historical data, Rubin said in his letter. Since the changes took place June 15, he said, the flight has lasted more than eight hours about 53 percent of the time.