The following has been submitted in confidence to the ongoing senate inquiry. Cop this ya' pack of mongrels
. Oh, and BB/AJ - this time you can't sack or intimidate him/her, cause you don't know who it is, - frustrating, isn't it??
SENATE INQUIRY INTO PILOT TRAINING AND AIRLINE SAFETY
I have been a pilot in the aviation industry for over 25 years.
I am a captain on the Airbus A320 with Jetstar.
This submission is provided on the basis that my identity remains confidential.
This is due, contrary to parliamentary privilege, to the strong probability of reprisal from
Jetstar management.
Pilot Experience
Jetstar have instigated a pilot cadet program and intends to place these cadets as first
officers on their aircraft. These cadets would have around 200 flight hours at the time that
they start to fly for Jetstar. To put this into some perspective, I sometimes fly 200 hours
in two months. It is not a lot of experience. Jetstar policy under the requirements of its
operations manual (OM1) as approved by the government regulator, CASA, has a
requirement of 1500 flight hours for initial intake for employment as a first officer. The
cadet program would appear to be at odds with this policy, as approved by the regulator.
Of the three airlines that I have worked for, the Jetstar operation would be by far the most
complicated. In great part this is a result of the low cost model and the lack of resources
that this model provides. For instance, traditionally, airlines have load control
departments that look after the entire weight and balance of each flight and once
completed, a load sheet is handed to the captain of the flight. The only input that the
flight crew have is to provide the required fuel figure. This department look after all
facets of the loading of the aircraft including passengers and where they are seated,
baggage and where it is loaded, cargo and where it is loaded, including the carriage of
special loads and dangerous goods with their special placement in specific positions on
the aircraft and many other variables including the segregation of certain types of
dangerous goods and the non carriage of particular dangerous good on particular aircraft
due to such things as lack of ventilation in the cargo hold of some specific aircraft in the
fleet. At Jetstar, this load control function is undertaken by the flight crew, while looking
after all of the other aspects associated with the flight and all on 30 minute turn around.
Jetstar recently outsourced its flight planning department to Manila as part of a cost
saving initiative. This has resulted in many mistakes being made in the flight plans which
are provided to the flight crew including, but not limited to, insufficient and therefore
illegal fuel loads being provided. This results in increased work load in a time limited
environment for the flight crew, to ensure that the flight departs legally.
The Airbus A320 requires, by certification, a runway that is 45 metres wide. Jetstar, by
way of a narrow runway exemption from the regulator, CASA, have approval to operate
the aircraft into and out of 30 metre wide runways. Landing and takeoff on such a narrow
runway, which also tend to be short, leaves little room for error with regard to both lateral
deviation from the centre line of the runway and touchdown due to the runway being
short. If asked off the record, few managers in the flight department of Jetstar would
argue that operations into such ports are not without risk, yet these people lack the
courage to voice these concerns to the commercial department of Jetstar, which basically
dictates where we operate to. The A320 is the largest aircraft in Australia to be granted
such approval.
The A320, apart from being a high performance transport jet also has a unique flight
control set up. Instead of a control column that is in front of the pilot, it has a small side
stick on each side. With the conventional control column, each movement made by the
pilot flying the aircraft is also made by the column in front of the pilot that is not flying.
The pilot not flying can see every control input, because they can see the movement in
their column. If needed, some assistance on the column by the captain, for instance,
would not be that unusual if the inputs being made were deemed insufficient during
landing, for instance. The side stick on the non flying side in an Airbus, however, remains
neutral at all times and if this happens to be the captain, he cannot feel or see the inputs
being made by the first officer. Additionally, if both pilots were to make inputs, they are
algebraically added. This means that if both pilots make the same input, the effect on the
aircraft will be doubled and if both pilots make equal but opposite inputs, the effect will
be zero input. Neither of these may be have good outcomes depending on the situation.
This is known on the Airbus as dual input. It is non standard procedure to have dual input
on an Airbus and the procedure, if required, is for the captain to take control of the
aircraft. This is very rarely required and a last resort. It is a fine line between taking over
too early when it is not required and taking over too late, especially on landing. This
makes the A320 more challenging for the captain with an inexperienced first officer, who
through no fault of their own, still makes errors of judgement due to inexperience.
Additionally, Jetstar scheduled services operate into airports that are outside of controlled
airspace without the assistance of a control tower or air traffic control radar services,
sometimes at night. These airports tend to have 30 metre wide, short runways and tend to
have a large amount of light aircraft traffic associated with them as these airports were
built for lighter traffic. It is the responsibility of the pilots at these airports to maintain
separation from each other. This system is only as strong as the weakest link and the
information that is provided by the pilot of the light aircraft. This pilot can sometimes be
a student pilot flying by themselves. If the position and/or altitude information they
provide is inaccurate and if the crew of the larger transport aircraft are not on the ball,
then this single person light aircraft has the potential to bring down an aircraft carrying
close to 200 people.
Jetstar pilots can fly up to 1000 hours per year. We do this around the clock, 24 hours per
day. We can work up to 14 hours per day up to six days in a row. Under present roster
protocol, we can and do, sign on as early as 5 AM for up to four days in a row and fly up
to four sectors per day and on the fifth day we could be signing on at 10 PM to fly until
7AM the next day, to then extend beyond this time due to delays. This last sign on time is
probably an hour or more past bed time of the previous few days and the duty period is
180 degrees opposed to the previous duties from the clocks view point. These shifts are
known as ‘back of the clock’. There is no way to be adequately rested for such a duty, as
is required by law, and there can be no fatigue risk management in such rostering
practices. Conversely, we could finish at 6AM after working all night, and then be
signing on at 5AM the next day. Still no chance to be adequately rested with such a lack
of routine.
Engineering, like all other departments, are under resourced and their attitude is
sometimes that they have not got time to fix things that are wrong with the aircraft and
‘push’ flight crew to take the aircraft and have it fixed some other place or at the end of
the day so that the schedule is not affected by their department. Flight crew however,
have responsibility for the overall operation and at times have to insist that something is
fixed prior to departure while under some pressure to continue regardless.
Add to these Jetstar specific threats, the normal ones of bad weather and instrument
approaches, thunderstorms, fog, cyclones, general traffic, international operations with
limited support, diversions to unfamiliar places both within Australia and internationally,
high terrain and single runway operations, where if an aircraft becomes disabled on the
runway, the flight may be unable to land and will probably have few options available
with regard to other airports with the available fuel, and you really start to see the
complication of this Jetstar operation overall.
As a captain on the A320, I rely on a competent and aviation experienced first officer for
support in high work load and non normal/emergency situations. When all is good, one
could probably fly the aircraft alone. It is when things are not good that you need the
experience sitting beside you and, you can never tell when that will be.
Jetstar, by providing insufficient resources in other operational areas, place a great deal of
responsibility on the flight crew, particularly the captain, to ensure that the operation is
not only carried out safely but is also done within the requirements of the law. This can
add significantly to the pressure of an already, well known to be, stressful job.
I have provided a lot of specific and general information under this sub section of ‘pilot
experience’ quite deliberately, and that is to show that this Jetstar operation specifically
and regular public transport jet operations more generally, are complicated and
sometimes high risk and are no place for a pilot with 200 flight hours or the experience
equivalent of two months in the industry.
USA 1500 flight hours requirement for RPT services
As is shown on page 4-20 of the Jetstar operations manual (OM1), as approved by the
government regulator, CASA, Jetstar already have a requirement to employ pilots with in
excess of 1500 flight hours to act as first officers. For all of the reasons already stated in
sub section a, this seems to be a reasonable level of experience to start on an operation as
I have described it and, indeed, is seen as such by the Jetstar flight department and
CASA.
Jetstar have started a pilot cadet program and intend to employ first officers with as little
as 200 flight hours, which is well below that which is required by the operations manual.
They have done this, not due to the fact that there is a lack of suitable pilots in Australia,
but purely for financial reasons. The list of cost saving and money making exercises that
Jetstar have running is long and none of them have safety as a consideration, but most are
outside of the terms of reference for this enquiry. For the record, policy of Jetstar senior
management is for a 10 percent cost reduction per year. This is absolutely unsustainable.
There are many examples of major accidents of aircraft that were operated by companies
that, for whatever reason, were in the process of long term, aggressive cost cutting
programs.
Jetstar are possibly making a profit from the substantial training costs associated with the
self funded cadet program. One hundred and seventy thousand dollars, seems to be a
rather large amount of money to train a person to be a first officer on an A320. On top of
this is the fact that once employed (there are no guarantees), these pilots will be on a
much inferior contract to the certified agreement that the rest of the Jetstar Australia
pilots are on. Add the possible profit from training to the significantly reduced wages that
these pilots will be on and you start to see that this is not about demand for pilots but
about a new recruitment method which fits in with Jetstar’s constant drive to undercut
wages and reduce costs and, for the reasons mentioned under sub section a, this will have
a detrimental effect on safety.
Qantas have long run a successful cadet program, employing pilots into their company
with 200 hours or similar. The difference however, is that these pilots are employed as
second officers and are not in the control seat for takeoff or landing. They are there for in
flight rest purposes on long haul flights and it is the captain and first officer who conduct
the flying. These pilots gain experience on the job over some years and would have some
thousands of hours experience by the time that they become first officers on, say, a
Boeing 737.
It needs to be remembered that the USA 1500 hour requirement was introduced as a
result of a catastrophic aircraft accident in the United States that was deemed, in part, to
be the result of crew inexperience. Let us not have to introduce such an initiative after an
event.
Pilot Recruitment and Pay for training schemes
I have touched on Jetstar pilot recruitment and my belief of the reasons that Jetstar have
set up a pilot cadet program, in sub section b. That reason is to reduce wages costs and
has nothing to do with the availability of suitable pilots from within the industry and that
it will have a detrimental effect on safety.
In days past, a pilot would be employed by an airline and that airline would be
responsible for, and take the risk for, the provision of all costs associated with the training
of this pilot including the endorsement on the applicable aircraft. This investment in this
employee was taken seriously at the recruitment stage, as the investment was large. So
seriously, in fact that, in days gone by, an applicant would not even be considered if
above the age of 26. This was so that the airline concerned would get a reasonable return
on the investment made in the individual. Additionally, due in great part to a strict
seniority system (date of joining determines promotion ect.) and the fact that terms and
conditions were much better than they are today in low cost carriers, a pilot would, in
almost all circumstances, stay with the first airline to employ them until retirement.
Today, however, things are very different. Today all of the risk is placed on the employee
and the company have little from a cost view point. It costs around $35,000 dollars
including GST, for a pilot to gain an aircraft endorsement on say an A320. (The pilot is
required to pay the full amount even though Jetstar claim the GST as a business expense
and pocket this in spite of it being paid by the pilot) As the pilot has paid for the
endorsement, after a small amount of company provided induction training, what remains
is line training on the aircraft. Unlike in the past, the first time that a pilot in Jetstar
actually flies the aircraft and probably the first time that they have flown a jet aircraft will
be with a load of passengers on board. I make this point to show that even under training,
this pilot is providing revenue for the airline and is of no cost. If at the end of this
training, which takes around two months, the pilot is considered unsuitable, then their
employment will be terminated. The $35,000 is still paid by the pilot. This means that the
recruitment that in the past was taken so seriously is no longer as critical, as all of the cost
risk is now transferred to the pilot and little cost has been incurred by the airline through
this process. This may mean that a pilot, who would not have been found suitable at the
recruitment stage, in the past, is let through to the training stage due to the low cost risk
for the airline. This pilot may slip through the net and, even though substandard, will
remain at the airline. Along similar lines, when substandard pay and conditions are
offered, such as those offered in New Zealand by Jetstar, then this means that the best
applicants are not attracted to these positions. Jetstar seem willing to accept this
unarguable reduction in safety so long as there is a commensurate reduction in wages
costs.
In days past, the employing airline provided the training via their own simulators with
training conducted by airline employees who were generally current senior training and
checking captains who were obviously up to date with current airline procedures and
processes. Today, these aircraft endorsements are provided by third parties and not an
airline. The instructors are generally not current pilots and may not have flown for many
years. In the case of my A320 endorsement, my instructor had never flown a jet aircraft
and had little idea of Jetstar procedures. This makes it much more difficult for the trainee
to come into the Jetstar system and achieve a reasonable result at a training level. It must
be remembered that the first time that the trainee flies the aircraft will be with passengers
on board. This has not always been the case, with airlines previously providing takeoff
and landing training in the aircraft without passengers. This makes the endorsement
training now, so much more important than in the past, when in fact, the training is, for
reasons stated above, much inferior. Combine this type of training with low experience
cadet pilots and the safety implications really start to multiply.
Continued in next posting %