Pilots’ unions have renewed their call for a scientific analysis of harmonised flight crew duty flight time limitations (FTL) between European countries, urging a review in 2009.
The European Cockpit Association used the first anniversary of the European transport ministers’ deal to limit pilot shifts to 11h 45min at night and 14h during daytime to launch a new attack on the scientific basis of the maxima. EU-Ops, the pan-European regulation covering flight crew licensing, is to be finalised in January 2006 and will form the basis of European Aviation Safety Agency’s rules for operations and licensing, set for 2007.
The new FTL apply only where national rules are less strict and the ECA welcomes this in many states that were previously without maximum shifts for pilots, such as the new central European member states, but says statistical evidence demonstrates that the likelihood of an accident is six times greater on aircraft on which the crew have been working longer than 12h.
The ECA will use the second reading of the bill, scheduled for March or April in the European Parliament, to press for the introduction of a clause mandating a scientific review after two years of the new rules taking effect to gauge their effectiveness. “One element we want to see is a scientific review of the legislation within two years of its entry into force,” says ECA secretary general Philip von Schöppenthau.
The ECA admits that if FTL were eventually reduced to 10h at night and 12h during the day as was originally proposed, there could be a 5% increase in crew costs. “All we are doing is asking passengers to pay for well-rested crew,” says von Schöppenthau.
Source: Flight International
