Usually a good indication that a fair compromise has been reached on a contentious issue is representatives from both sides of the debate saying that they are the ones taking the hit. Judging the recent notice of proposed rule making (NPRM) on flight and duty-time rules (FTLs) by this dual-aggravation standard, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) did a pretty good job in coming up with something that will move the issue forward (see story, “New Proposal, Old Resistance”).
FAA has wanted to deal with this issue about as much as you might want to lick a hot skillet. The existing rules for the most part weren’t even in play at large airlines, with far more constraining work rule packages built up over decades of labor/management negotiations; further, every time the issue had been approached in the past the only dependable results were that the agency would receive a severe …
