I had a brief communication last year with one of the key scientists at NASA at the time -whose work on crew fatigue formed the basis of some of the new proposals. I asked him what he thought of EASA's new proposals at the time, in particular how the FAA would feel about potentially over-fatigued crews (from the EU) flying in US airspace and landing there having worked a duty day which exceeds FAA restrictions. My impression from what little he could or would tell me was that this question had not been considered - which I found very interesting as it seems to be a pretty fundemental one. I also met with EASA and was equally surprised that they have no perception of any negative pressure whatsoever on safety standards from some of the 'coercive influences' used by some airlines to encourage excessive use of crew discretion amongst many other things. Needless to say I feel that EASA are rushing this through without adequate,thorough consultation of the people who really know what the implications will be - the people that actually fly aeroplanes.
Last edited by AirResearcher; 11th Mar 2012 at 09:50.