DAVID LEARMOUNT / LONDON
Federal Aviation Administration requested to allow more control over safety and security issues before and after flight
US airline pilots have asked the Federal Aviation Administration to extend their period of legal authority to give pilots in command more control over safety and security issues that can arise immediately before and after a flight.
According to Capt Dan Ashby, chairman of the US Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA) captain's authority committee, the need arises from changed circumstances since 11 September 2001, because the FAA rules do not comply with updated International Civil Aviation Organisation standards.
Existing FAA regulations say that the captain has legal authority over the aircraft and people in it from the time the aircraft doors are closed at the beginning of the flight until they are opened at the end of it.
ALPA wants pilots in command to have authority to take decisions about the flight from the time that they report early to check and prepare the aircraft, attend to load sheets and carry out pre-briefing until they have completed their duties following the flight.
ALPA quotes examples of security situations commanders cannot control at present. For example a gate agent can make a decision to board a passenger who is behaving "suspiciously or disruptively". Under existing regulations such passenger behaviour would have to be evident after door closure for the pilot to be able to order that he/she be disembarked. The union also quotes a case in which cutting tools were found on an aircraft before pushback, and the captain's request for an explosives-sniffer dog was refused in favour of a manual search only.
In the USA, gate agents are licensed personnel who have more authority to make decisions about preparations for the flight than they do in other countries. But ICAO standards recommend that pilots in command have the kind of authority ALPA is seeking, and the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations says ICAO procedures should be followed. The British Air Line Pilots Association says that its pilots have authority for decisions that relate to the safety of the aircraft between its preparation for a flight to when their duty ends.
The FAA says it is considering the pilots' submission.
Source: Flight International
