From
The Times 10 March:-
"Airline pilots will refuse to fly planes chartered to evacuate casualties of the war against Iraq because the government is seeking to relax flight safety rules.
The DofT has produced a draft directive requiring civilian pilots flying jet chartered by the Armed Forces to work for more than 19 consecutive hours, six more than the current legal limit.
The government is negotiating contracts with several airlines to provide planes and crews to evacuate the injured and ferry troops and supplies. It wants to change the safety rules to allow for the special circumstances of waging war.
The DofT directive (a copy of which has been obtained by
The Times, says that pilots operating medical flights can have their duty hours extended by four beyond the current maximum of 13 hours and 15 minutes (!) The captain can also agree to fly an additional two hours if required by the circumstances.
Pilots can be ordered to work for 70 hours a week, 15 more than the exisiting 55-hour limit. Rest periods between shifts have also been cut to a minimum of nine hours.
The British Airline Pilots Association said that the rule changes could lead to an exhausted pilot making a fatal error at the end of a 19-hour working day. Trevor Phillips, BALPA's Head of Scheduling, said: ' It is clearly unsafe to allow such huge increases in the duty period. The existing safety rules are there for a reason, but this directive would mean pilots flying back over densely populated areas when they are dangerously fatigued'.
BALPA is advising its members to refuse to undertake such flights and is calling on such airlines not to sign contracts unless safety standards are maintained. Military pilots are already permitted to work much longer hours than civilian pilots, but they are given pillls to keep them alert. Civilian pilots are banned from taking any stimulants.
Any evacuation flights operated by civilians are expected to fly to bases in Cyprus or Kuwait. The flight time to London from Cyprus is about 5 hours but chartered planes would take an hour longer as they would have to fly at lower altitude, where there is greater air resistance. They normally fly at 35,000 ft, but they would operate at only 20.000 ft when carrying casualties in order to maintain the optimum flow of oxygen (???)
The union suspects that the government has issued the directive partly to avoid paying for relief crews, which would cost around £10,000 per trip.
BALPA is also demanding that planes chartered for casualty evacuations are repainted. Graham Fowler, chairman of BALPA's Gulf war co-ordinating committee, said: ' Our members are concerned that an airline could see its fleet become a terrorist target' "
So, you unfortunate lads and lasses who have "copped a Blighty" and are bleeding all over Sleazyjet's or PaddyAir's floor and the pilot dumps you at some inhospitable place like Beirut or Damascus and walks away saying airily "Sorry chaps and chappies, duty time is up", think fondly of the Crab Air you have so often derided. And hope like hell that they have not got around to repainting the aircraft in military livery!
