US Airways pilots, seeking to increase industry standard immunity levels guaranteed by the US FAA's Aviation Safety Action Programme (ASAP), have terminated the airline's decade-long involvement in the initiative.
The airline's ASAP programme had provided pilots with FAA and company immunity when voluntarily reporting "sole-source" safety problems and incidents, a trade off that regulators say increases safety by exposing issues that would otherwise remain hidden and could lead to disasters. Exceptions to the penalty-free promise included involvement with alcohol, substance abuse and criminal activities.
US Airways ASAP programmes for mechanics and dispatchers remain in effect, as does the company's Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) flight performance data-sharing safety programme with the FAA.
ATI has learned that the pilots, represented by the US Airline Pilots Association (USAPA) union since a switch in representation from the Air Line Pilots Association in April, had attempted to expand immunity to cover non sole-source as well as sole-source events. Non sole-source events are those where the airline finds out about an incident via another source, such as a damage report following a tail-strike.
Airline officials say the expanded immunity would have "tied their hands" and prevented them from providing the necessary training or discipline to pilots. Further, officials say no other major airline has embraced the expanded immunity that USAPA has asked for.
USAPA however says that management's "insistence on diluting [immunity] provisions rendered them effectively useless". They say similar actions by other airlines were key factors in the discontinuation of ASAP programmes earlier this month at American Airlines, Delta Air Lines and Comair.
USAPA maintains the ASAP dilemma points to a larger problem of growing mistrust between pilots and management. "They don't make us partners in safety," says USAPA spokesman James Ray.
As an example, he says US Airways recently unilaterally decided that double augmented crews (two pilots, two first officers) flying new A330-200s on long-haul routes like Philadelphia to Tel Aviv next year will have to use coach cabin seats as rest areas since the aircraft's crew rest area is too small for two pilots. "They rule with a hammer instead of a handshake," says Ray.
US Airways did not comment on the crew rest accusation, but say the focus of the debate should remain on ASAP, and that the airline was content with the programme with the earlier immunity provisions.
Source: Air Transport Intelligence news
