Wake up EU(situation around of new FTL draft in Europe)!

Close to 100 pilots from all over Europe called on EU Transport Ministers to make Passenger Safety their Priority Number One, when they gathered in front of the EU Transport Council’s meeting, on 16 June in Luxemburg.

They did so, because there are alarmed by the European Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) refusal to base the EU’s future pilot fatigue rules on scientific evidence. They are alarmed that EASA – and the European Commission – seem to put the airlines’ commercial interests before passenger safety. This is not acceptable and must change!

The demonstration, organised by ECA, pointed at the threat pilot fatigue poses to the safety of passengers, with 15-20% of fatal air accidents having fatigue as a contributing factor. And it pointed the finger at those who will be responsible for approving the future rules: the European Institutions – and the Transport Ministers in particular.

ECA calls on the EU decision-makers – Ministers, Euro-Parliamentarians, the Commission and EASA – to wake up to the real safety risk of pilot fatigue. ECA calls on them to revise their proposed EU law in line with available scientific evidence. Not doing so, would be irresponsible.

In front of the Ministers and international media, European pilots expressed their common concerns and their request for safe science-based rules. Information leaflets were distributed to the public and a special Press Conference was held, where ECA President Nico Voorbach stated that “Europe has a unique opportunity to come up with FTL safety standards at the highest level, based on scientific and medical knowledge. The bad news, however, is that the EU is going in the opposite direction.”

Already in October 2009, ECA and its over 38,600 pilot members had voiced their alarm during an EU-wide Action Day, after which a process was launched at EU level to draft new rules on pilot fatigue. More than two years and a half have passed and ECA regrets to see that the airlines’ strong stance against safe and science-based pilot fatigue rules has been successful. Indeed, the current EASA proposal is immature, sets safety standards well below global best practices and disregards decades of scientific evidence.