It took a pilot to make one of the first moves in Congress to create one level of safety as part of a 2011 proposal to upgrade Part 121 crew-rest requirements.

Legislation in the aftermath of the 2009 Colgan Air 3407 crash in Buffalo created new fatigue-based scheduling standards, but only for pilots of passenger aircraft under Part 121. Pilots flying with cargo companies, such as FedEx and UPS, were excluded.

Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-MN) a former cargo pilot himself, along with Tim Bishop (D-NY), last week proposed fresh legislation--the Safe Skies Act of 2012--to compel carriers to schedule all Part 121 pilots with equal rest periods.