EXHAUSTED “zombies” may soon be flying aircraft over Europe if new rules that extend pilots’ flying hours become law, unions are warning.
The proposed rules, which have been drawn up by the European Parliament with the backing of Europe’s airlines, are designed to harmonise the disparate rules governing pilots’ working hours throughout the European Union. Europe’s Council of Ministers will consider the proposals later this year.
The number of hours a pilot can fly varies, depending on when their duty starts and whether it is a long-haul or short-haul flight. For Britain, which already has some of the strictest laws on flying hours in Europe, the European Parliament’s proposals will typically increase the maximum flying time per day by two hours, and reduce the rest time between duties by one hour, says the British Airline Pilots Association.
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So BALPA, along with affiliated pilots’ associations in Europe, is pressing for the new flight hours to be based on scientific measures of fatigue. “Lives are at risk,” says Mervyn Granshaw, BALPA’s chairman. While pilots support the idea of harmonisation, he says, “the science is being ignored”. Italian pilots this week went on strike for four hours to protest against the proposals.
The European Committee on Aircrew Scheduling and Safety, which includes scientists from Qinetiq at Farnborough, the Institute of Aerospace Medicine in Cologne and the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, is also warning of the dangers of the proposals. ECASS believes they pose a significant threat to the safety of airline operations.
Britain’s rules may be tighter than other European countries, but they are more lax than those governing international flights for US airlines. For example, a US airline flying from Washington DC to London will carry a pilot, a co-pilot and a third pilot to take over when the first has run out of hours. But a British airline will only carry two pilots.
