When the FAA adopted modern, science-based pilot fatigue regulations under FAR Part 117, those protections—including updated limits on flight time, duty periods, and minimum rest—were applied to passenger airline pilots. Pilots flying all-cargo aircraft were excluded and remain subject to older fatigue rules. This exemption is known as the cargo carve-out.

Cargo pilots often operate overnight and during the body’s most fatigue-sensitive hours. They fly through the same airspace, use the same airports and runways, operate similarly complex aircraft, and fly over the same communities as passenger airlines. Fatigue does not become less dangerous simply because an aircraft is carrying packages instead of passengers.

H.R. 7526, the Safe Skies Act of 2026, would end the cargo carve-out and extend the same FAR Part 117 flight-duty, rest, and fatigue protections to all-cargo pilots.

Take a moment now to tell Congress to support H.R. 7526 and establish one consistent level of safety for all commercial airline operations.