“We could not have gotten … any closer to having a major disaster,” said Bruce Landsberg, vice-chair of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, in describing a July 2017 incident involving an Air Canada plane at San Francisco International Airport. The safety board took aim at Transport Canada regulations that allowed the Air Canada captain — who was on reserve duty at the time — to be at the controls despite his lack of sleep. The NTSB urged revisions to Transport Canada regulations to address fatigue for pilots on reserve duty who are called to operate evening flights. “There is a pervasive and systemic risk with Canadian aviation in particular, and that is fatigue,” said Matt Hogan, chair of the Air Canada Pilots Association. Transport Canada said it would provide its formal response to the report within 90 days.

Source: thestar September 25, 2018 13:30 UTC