ENFORCEMENT OF LASER PENALTIES BY FAA

Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has directed its investigators and staff to pursue stiffer penalties for individuals who purposefully point laser devices at aircraft.This comes against the backdrop of increased laser pointing incidents.

MULTI-CREW PILOT LICENCE

As a sequel to the post on FAA Proposed Rule Making for First Officers, wherein it was commented that a competency based training of first officer will be preferred over proposed FAA rule of ATP as requirement with 1500 hrs for first officers, this post touches upon the MPL or mutl-crew pilot licence .This was established in 2006 for airline co-pilots by ICAO. The MPL initiative was seized by Germany,China,Phillipines, Canada and Singapore.

FAA PROPOSED RULE MAKING FOR FIRST OFFICERS

F AA Notice of Proposed Rulemaking issued on Feb. 29, 2012, which would require that first officers hold an Airline Transport Pilot (ATP) certificate and a minimum of 1,500 hours flight time to obtain the certificate. Existing FAA regulations do not require a first officer to hold an ATP certificate; only the pilot in command must meet this certificate requirement.

Industry experts discussing the proposed rule, tend to emphasize on being cautious in creating an unnecessary pilot shortage and barriers to crew recruitment. Also the debate is on whether the new requirements would help in raising the bar as far as safety is concerned.

One notable comments to FAA proposed rulemaking comes from Airlines for America(A4A),who have urged FAA to significantly revise its proposed requirements for pilot certification and provide a system that builds on the industry’s strong safety record, is recommended by safety experts and that recognizes the quality of a pilot’s training and experience, rather than relying solely on a specific quantity of flight hours.