Budget airline pilots accused of putting safety at risk
By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent. The Times
PILOTS working for some low-cost airlines are disobeying air traffic control instructions because they are under extreme pressure to meet tight schedules, according to a confidential safety report.
They allegedly try to save time by approaching airports too fast and are sometimes forced to abandon a landing because they come too close to the aircraft in front. An air traffic controller filed the safety report because of his concern that the growing number of incidents involving budget airlines could result in a crash.
The report, received by the industry’s Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme (Chirp), says that pilots are working under “extreme pressure on the flight deck to achieve programmed sector flight times”, and claims that as a result they are cutting corners.
Among the incidents reported are “failure to comply with assigned intermediate and final approach speeds . . . resulting in a go-around”. Pilots are also said to be ignoring longer flight paths designed to reduce noise disturbance, and as a result are flying too low or passing directly over villages.
The report says that controllers are receiving “overly aggressive responses”, with pilots repeatedly challenging information on visibility and on whether the aircraft in front has safely cleared the runway.
Some pilots are also using their radios to complain that they are not being given priority. One crew complained that another aircraft had been allowed to land first because they were not UK nationals.
“It is occurring with increasing frequency and, in my judgment, is due in part to the aggressively commercial ethos that exists within some airline companies,” the controller says.
He urges Chirp’s directors to intervene “before it reaches a level with the potential to compromise safety”.
The report is understood to refer principally to Ryanair and its base at Stansted in Essex. Ryanair, in common with airlines such as easyJet and Go, uses its aircraft more intensively than traditional airlines and leaves a gap of just 25 minutes between arriving and departing. Budget airline aircraft do four return journeys to Europe in a day, double the number of a typical British Airways jet.
David Learmount, safety editor of Flight International, said that the Chirp report indicated that pilots were under pressure to cut corners to achieve punctuality targets. “If this is a symptom of unacceptable pressure then it is only a matter of time before the pilots make a mistake that matters,” he said.
Ryanair was criticised yesterday by its arch-rival, easyJet, over the age of its fleet. The Irish-registered airline, which announced a record profit of £111 million last week, operates some of the oldest aircraft in Britain, with 20 Boeing 737-200s dating back to the start of the 1980s. They are not due to be retired until 2006. Stelios Haji-Ioannou, easyJet’s chairman, said: “Combine a low-cost airline with old aircraft and the odds of your reputation surviving an accident are against you.”
He cited the fate of ValuJet, an American low-cost airline which lost half its business and was forced to change its name after a crash in 1996.
EasyJet has a policy of buying only new aircraft. Half of Ryanair’s fleet is made up of second-hand aircraft retired by Lufthansa and other airlines. According to figures from Boeing, the 737-200 operated by Ryanair is more than twice as likely to develop a fault which prevents it from taking off as the more modern 737-300 operated by easyJet.
The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), Britain’s safety regulator, has no control over Ryanair because it is registered in Dublin and regulated by the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA). While both regulators peform spot checks on their airlines, the IAA has only 60 staff in its safety division compared to more than 800 employed by the CAA.
Common safety standards apply across Europe on issues such as the maximum number of flying hours for pilots. Ryanair’s operating costs are less than half those of British Airways partly because its pilots spend up to 50 per cent longer in the air each year, completing an average of 840 hours compared with the legal maximum of 900.
Tim Jeans, Ryanair’s marketing director, said: “We don’t cut corners while the aircraft is airborne. Turnaround times are tighter but safety and security are an absolute priority and there is nothing we would do to compromise that.There is no more pressure on our pilots to depart on time than there is on British Airways.” EasyJet and Go said safety was paramount and they would take a dim viedw of any pilots unnecessarily challenging instructions.