More (EK bashing) from the Herald Sun
The Melbourne Herald Sun Editorial - 4 October 2009 - bit like a dog with a bone !!
Listen to the pilots | Herald Sun
"TODAY, the Sunday Herald Sun exposes a frightening problem within one of the world's biggest airlines.
Emirates is the airline. Pilot fatigue is the issue.
Using US Freedom of Information laws in Washington DC, we have obtained documents that lift the lid on the true extent of this critical safety issue.
Among the documents are a formal complaint to US and Australian aviation authorities and internal emails between Emirates pilots and airline executives.
In the detailed complaint, dated December 21, 2008, the author says the document is written on behalf of Emirates pilots, stating: "There has been continuous pressure from the commercial department ... according to their (the pilots) opinion flight safety is becoming increasingly impaired."
In other words, Emirates' pilots accuse it of putting profits ahead of the lives of passengers and crew.
In an email to Emirates executives, one senior pilot issues this blunt warning: "I am very concerned that the Commercial versus Safety balance in this airline is tipping in the wrong direction."
The pilot goes on: "The sad thing is that in the event of the worst happening it will be the Fatigued Pilots who will be in the dock, dead or alive, and not the people in management ... "
And another pilot warns pilots are suffering from "micro-sleeps" while landing aircraft. This is not the first time the Sunday Herald Sun has highlighted safety concerns at Emirates.
On April 12, we revealed an Emirates Airbus carrying 275 passengers came within 70cm of crashing at Melbourne Airport. The pilot had slept for only 3 1/2 hours in the previous day and was close to his maximum allowed 100 flying hours in the previous month.
Then, in May, we spoke to three Emirates pilots who all raised serious concerns about fatigue.
What the US documents reveal is that despite the safety concerns, the American Federal Aviation Authority has no powers to investigate Emirates, stating it is a foreign carrier.
The Australian Transport Safety Bureau is investigating the Tullamarine incident, but it has not launched a broader probe into pilots' fatigue claims.
How absurd. Emirates flies to our cities, carrying more than 1.6 million passengers annually. The planes laden with fuel fly over our suburbs.
It is incumbent on Australian and US aviation authorities to immediately investigate Emirates.
No other major airline flying in or out of Australia is facing this level of dissent from its pilots.
The reason their claims must be investigated by an independent safety regulator is this: His Highness Sheik Ahmed Bin Saeed al-Maktoum is chairman of the Emirates Group, which owns Emirates Airline. He is also the president of Dubai's Civil Aviation Authority. He is also on the board of the General Civil Aviation Authority of the United Arab Emirates.
In May, an Emirates pilot, speaking on the condition he not be identified, told the Sunday Herald Sun: "I don't want to see a smoking hole in the ground with an Emirates tail on it, but the way we're going that's highly probable."
Let's hope that pilot is not proven right.
But if he is, aviation authorities the world over cannot claim they were not warned."