The new EU rules is believed to weaken existing safety
standards, the new rules will permit a pilot to land an
aircraft having been awake for 22 hours or more, with a
level of tiredness that is the equivalent of being four
times over the legal alcohol limit for flying. Nine
out of ten members of the British public said this was
of concern to them in a recent poll. Dangerously the EU
rules will also give new powers to the European Aviation
Safety Agency (EASA) allowing it to change the rules in
the future without the support or scrutiny of
politicians in Europe or national governments.
BALPA has called on MEPs voting in the EU Transport
Committee on Monday to back a motion that would require
the European Commission to withdraw its proposals and to
subject them to proper scientific and medical scrutiny.
BALPA has also made a complaint of maladministration to
the European Ombudsman and argued that the rules should
have been based on scientific evidence from the outset.
Jim McAuslan, General Secretary of BALPA, said “Making
every flight a safe flight is the number one priority
for British pilots who have helped establish some of the
highest safety standards in Europe. Tiredness is already
a major challenge for pilots who are deeply concerned
that unscientific new EU rules will cut UK standards and
lead to increased levels of tiredness, which has been
shown to be a major contributory factor in air accidents.
“A
European regulator that lacks scientific and medical
expertise is being allowed to tear up UK flight safety
rules and is being supported in this by the Conservative
UK Government Minister and the UK regulator. Why this
Government is bending the knee to Europe rather than the
wisdom of the piloting profession with over 40 million
flying hours experience is as baffling as it is
dangerous."
On
Monday MEPs in the EU Transport and Tourism Select
Committee will vote on new “flight time limitations”
proposals, which will replace the current regulations
for the UK. British transport ministers will also vote
on the proposals in the EU Council of Ministers, as will
all MEPs in a full parliamentary session. The rules must
be backed by MEPs and Ministers to go ahead.
British pilots believe that they have been let down by
the UK Government and the Civil Aviation Authority
(CAA), the UK regulator responsible for keeping our
skies safe. They also believe that the CAA has totally
failed in its duty to stand up for UK safety levels by
not insisting upon a full scientific evaluation of the
proposals and is backing them despite the lack of any
supporting scientific evidence. In comparison, the Dutch
Parliament has called on its government to reject the
proposal on the basis that they wish to protect their
own high quality safety laws at a national level.
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