European pilot flight time limitation (FTL) regulations, approved by European transport ministers yesterday after 13 years of debate, have cleared the first legislative hurdle.
In most European Union member states – where there are no national FTL regulations – the rules will be the first-ever applicable to airlines registered in their countries.
This was only the first reading of the new draft regulation by the council, but it should go forward for a second reading at the European Parliament. By July at the earliest, the European Cockpit Association (ECA) believes, the FTL regulations could become legal minimum standards as European Union Operations (EU-OPS) regulations. Then individual countries will be obliged to create and apply their own national rules based on these minima within 18 months.
Countries like the UK, whose CAP 371 rules are among the most stringent FTL regulations in Europe, will only have to amend their standards if, in any respect, they fall below the standards set in the EU-OPS FTL. The UK Civil Aviation Authority says that it has examined the draft European FTL standard and will not need to change the CAP 371 except in one small detail concerning meal breaks – claiming that it is “a higher standard in most cases and equal in the remainder”.
The ECA says it is worried about provisions in the regulation that allow for “derogations” in the rules, which countries can adopt if they are satisfied they achieve equivalent safety. The fact that the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) will oversee standards does not comfort the association, says its general secretary Philip von Schoppenthau, because it sees competitive pressures on airlines rising and fears that consequent lobbying of governments may erode the rules. “There is a real risk that standards will come down,” he says.
One of the provisions of the law is that, within three years of its implementation, a scientific study of pilot fatigue commissioned by EASA should have been completed, and the regulations should be reviewed in the light of its findings. The ECA says it would like to see the study completed within two years.
DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON
Source: Flight International
