"Spies" will be installed in cockpits
Airlines are expected to be told later this month that all new aircraft will be fitted with cockpit video cameras from 2005, in spite of opposition from pilots in Britain and the United States. The International Civil Aviation
Organization (ICAO), which is the international ruling body on commercial aviation matters, hopes the cameras will provide air accident investigators with more evidence than is available from voice recordings.
ICAO is expected to announce its decision to make video cameras in cockpits a legal requirement at its conference in Canada in September.
Pilots are opposed to video cameras in the cockpit because they fear that video footage could be used
against them in legal action following an accident. They also believe that being filmed while they work could be distracting. The British Air Line Pilots Association claims the introduction of cockpit video recordings "offensive" and "an invasion of privacy". British law does provide pilots with some protection, however, as it prohibits voice recordings being released other than in the publics interest. The legislation is expected to be extended to cover video recordings.
Pilots in the US could be more vulnerable, however, as cockpit voice recordings were routinely released to the public until recently. New legislation introduced to prevent this made no mention of video recordings.
Source: Issue three 2001 of FIRST CLASS Newsletter by IAPA (for members only)
www.iapa.com