German prosecutors should have no legal recourse against the captain of the Hapag-Lloyd flight that suffered fuel exhaustion on approach to Vienna airport (Flight International, 27 January-2 February).
It should come as no surprise that the legal zealots in pursuit of the captain are being less rigorous in their application of the law against the engineering staff responsible for the maintenance of the right main landing gear, and the aircraft manufacturer.
Pilots have suffered enormous intrusions into their workplace and detailed electronic surveillance of their performance is commonplace. This is tolerated because of its safety dividend it and certainly would not be tolerated, generally, within the wider community.
Allowing prosecutors access to this kind of information can, in the longer term, only have a deleterious effect on aviation safety as aircraft commanders keep one eye on the aeroplane flightpath and one on the legal implications of any decisions they take. If the valuable safety data retrieved from flightdeck recordings is to remain relevant and effective then pilots must be indemnified against its use as a prosecution tool.
One can only wonder at the human factors issues that would lead to a well-trained and experienced flightcrew running out of fuel. That their employer has already abandoned its responsibility ("The pilot is in charge of the operation of an aircraft; we do not interfere" - Hapag-Lloyd) suggests that there are more systemic issues than meet the eye.
Michael Green Heathcote, New South Wales, Australia
Source: Flight International
