The Canadian Business Aviation Association (CBAA) said the new pilot fatigue risk management system (FRMS) regulations do not work for unscheduled commercial operations. Thus, the organization plans to develop a working alternative.
Following CBAA’s meeting with Transport Canada officials in late January, the two parties agreed that the association would develop a “pilot project” that will attempt to find a better way forward. “Our intent is to leverage fatigue science, technology, and a robust safety management systems (SMS) to find an alternate means of compliance.”
Revisions to duty time and rest regulations for Canadian-registered commuter and air-taxi operators of turbine and non-turbine aircraft (CAR Parts 704 and 703) went into effect on Dec. 12, 2022.
Transport Canada said the changes include prescribed flight and duty time limits that respect modern scientific research and international standards to limit the amount of time a crewmember can be on the job; and fatigue risk-management systems that will require operators to demonstrate that any variance to the prescribed flight and duty time limits will not adversely affect the level of flight crew fatigue or alertness. It is the latter requirement that CBAA’s pilot program intends to address.