A Santa Barbara congressman has introduced legislation intended to improve the safety of cargo plane flights. It would require carriers to apply the same flight limits, and rest requirements for cargo pilots which are now in effect for commercial airline pilots.
Air carriers currently have different rules for cargo pilots, which means they can potentially end up flying more hours with less rest than their passenger plane counterparts. Two pilots associations and the Teamsters have endorsed the legislation.
Democratic Congressman Salud Carbajal sponsored the bipartisan bill co-authored by a fellow Democrat and two Republicans.