RAINER UPHOFF / MADRID
Spanish airline employees claim that a recently approved Spanish aviation safety law contravenes modern safety practices and is about controlling industrial action. The professional associations representing pilots, air traffic controllers and maintenance workers say the law is "establishing heavy fines for aviation professionals without addressing the root causes in the system".
They say the law lacks "efficient regulatory policies to improve safety"; gives a free rein for the state "to militarise air traffic control without clearly defining the conditions for taking this step"; enables the "privatisation of flight and maintenance operations inspections"; and clears courts to use "information obtained through anonymous reports".
"Any pilot flying in Spain can be fined for deliberately delaying a flight, but also for taking off without adequate pre-flight checks," says Andoni Nieto, head of Spanish pilot union Sepla. "This is a safety relevant contradiction as it creates unacceptable time pressure."
Klaus Koplin, secretary general of the European Joint Aviation Authorities, says he is reluctant to comment on the new law because he is not familiar with it, but says in principle that drawing up punitive laws that could influence the conduct of safety operating procedures "is dangerous ground".
Carlos Salas, vice-president of the European Cockpit Association (ECA) in Brussels, suspects other political intentions beyond aviation safety. "This is a strange law," he says.
He believes it contradicts European and JAA harmonisation efforts and that it aims to create the "legal ground for disciplining pilots, mechanics and controllers in the event of a labour conflict".
Source: Flight International
