A near-miss at a San Francisco airport added pressure on the Canadian government to limit pilots’ flying time. (CBC)

Pilot hours capped to limit fatigue

Canada is introducing tougher limits on the number of hours commercial airline pilots can fly citing the goal of making air travel safer. Pilots have been asking for shorter flying times and the issue was vividly brought to the public’s attention when an Air Canada plane nearly landed on four fully-fuelled jets waiting for take off at San Francisco’s airport in July 2017. One of the pilots said he was tired at the time.

Under the new rules, the allowable number of flight hours would decrease from 1,200 a year to 1,000 hours. A maximum work day would last between nine and 13 hours depending on the start time.

Major carriers will have two years to comply. Smaller and regional companies have four years.

The government has posted details of the changes to its regulations on the transport department website

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