Pilots are reportedly warning of cancelled flights this summer because of plans to increase the number of hours they fly.
The Government is this week expected to approve new rules that would allow pilots to be on duty for 14 hours in succession, rather that the current 12 hours. The new regulations, if given the green light, would also reduce the minimum rest period between flights and do away with rules that restrict the number of successive nights that may be worked by pilots.
But, according to the online news provider Ananova, the British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) has warned that such a move would increase the likelihood of crashes by six times and have stated that pilots would not stick to the rules if they believed they were putting lives at risk.
General Secretary Jim McAuslan is quoted as saying: “Under the European proposals it will be possible for an airline to tell two pilots to fly from London to Sydney with a brief stopover in Bangkok or Singapore instead of what we have now, a flight crew of four. Experience tells us that this will be a disaster.”
BALPA chairman Mervyn Granshaw reportedly described the proposals as a “shoddy compromise that is unsafe, unsound and impractical”.
Report by Tim Gillett, News From Abroad
