Brussels, 21/09/2012 (Agence Europe) - Airline pilots and flight crew fear that review of the European rules on flight term limitations will run counter to air safety, especially in terms of fatigue. The European Air Safety Association (EASA) is about to present a proposal for review, expected by the end of the month. However, the European Cockpit Association (ECA) considers that EASA services have neglected the risks for safety due to fatigue, albeit proven scientifically. According to Nico Voorbach, ECA President, “EASA's draft opinion on flight time limitations is a dangerous proposal which will risk the safety of Europe's travelling public”.
Awake for 22 hours. According to the ECA, a combination of different, revised rules would allow a pilot to land an aircraft after having been awake for 22 hours (on call and in flight together). The changes brought to the reserve and on call system (16 hours as opposed to 12 at present) would mean that pilots and flight crew would have to remain awake for even longer before flying. And yet, as Voorbach, a former pilot of a major airline, explains, when one is working the hardest thing is right at the end when one has to land. Pilots take the view, therefore, that, at night, they should not have to fly more than ten hours. EASA proposes 11 hours, despite the fact that, as ECA Secretary General Philip von Schöppenthau points out, fatigue “grows exponentially” after that.
Profit before safety? The pilots' association regrets that EASA has decided not to heed the scientific considerations regarding fatigue and the impact that fatigue could have on aviation safety. ECA also sees this as manoeuvring on the part of airlines which, they say, are seizing this opportunity to revise flight times to gain in flexibility and make larger profits on the employment of working times for pilots and crew. Voorbach asks with alarm why commercial interests should be given pride of place before safety concerns, and recalls that an accident is even costlier than precautionary measures. (MD/transl.jl)