Some good news/bad news from the EU! EASA FTL rejected
 

Right on!
Looks like round one went to us!

At least now the EASA can't just rule alone.
As little of democracy there is in the EU, this bit worked our way.

Can someone explain to me again how that man can be allowed to hold any position of power? SES2+, the new flight rules, wherever he sticks his fingers the result scares me.

Well done, BALPA. I don't believe this would have happened if it wasn't for the tremendous effort done by them on members' behalf.
Imagine how effective they could be in representing pilots' issues with even more members!

That wasn't BALPA, it was VC in Germany, as far as I am concerned.
Obviously every pilots union in Europe worked against that, so I aplaud the joint effort. Not just a single union.
Think more broadly.

The battle might be won, but the war is far from over boys...

That was only round one, two more rounds of voting remain in the next 2 months so don't pop the bubbly just yet.

A battle won but a war still to be fought
 

Captaintcas has got it spot on: "The battle might be won, but the war is far from over boys."
On BBC Question Time on Friday night, it was clear the UK MPs have little idea how excessive flight duty time limits affect air safety. the EU MEPs on the committee have taken a vital step, but it is just one more step. We now need to get EASA to stop buckling under the commercial pressures from airline owners. EASA Must use scientific data to build on the limits already well established and improve on them not relax them and wind the clocks back to limits used 50 years ago.

Might be an idea to get the MP/MEP to try out one of the roster patterns and see how they like it. Bearing in mind that none of them have ever really considered what it will actually be like.
I know I've asked mine to try it to see what they think, still waiting on an answer tho.

Good first result hopefully the next one will go on the right side of safety.

Vasco, I was also shocked listening to Question Time. Ken Clarke showed himself to be a true politician by complete ignorance of the sleeping pilots / new FTL proposals and successfully waffling around the subject and not answering the question. I was so incensed I immediately sent an e-mail to his office to enlighten him. None of the others on the panel were able to make sensible replies either so it shows that although BALPA having been working hard with their campaign, it hasn't reached far enough.

Remember what the airlines have said in reply...the increased duty times will be good for our customers/pax! They will win, always have, just a few funny handshakes in the right club.

Regretably, you have probably correctly identified the "mechanism" by which they will come to a "considered judgement" :hmm:

Just to say that there are also a fair amount of Pilots who are members of this " funny handshake" club...including yours truly.

A little aside: I wanted a tree cut down in my garden and needed the council's permission. The authoritative person was a tree hugger and said no, even though the tree was dying. There was a violent storm and I and the neighbours claimed we saw the tree rocking in an unstable fashion. Still the tree hugger said no. The tree was next to the pavement and parked cars. I said that if the tree fell down in the next storm and injured children or damaged cars I would alert the victims to his ruling and he would be responsible.
The next day I received my permit for tree felling.
Ergo; if the parliament approved these new FTL's in the face of conflicting evidenced and opinion, and then there is a human factors related crash which could have been effected by these same FTL's, then a finger should be pointed at the aye voters. In this day of 'buzz words' let's educate the bureaucrats in TEM. Let's also educate the pax in the quality of risk management by their so-called leaders and those who are supposed to be taking care of the public. It is a classic case of profit versus risk at the travelling public's expense. Let's tell them.

Maybe not such good news. The spin has started. Passenger safety at risk after EU rejects changes to pilots? hours, transport official warns - Home News - UK - The Independent

f1yingwellie
 

As somebody in an earlier post said this is only one battle, see link below.

World governance: EU pilots to sleep in their cockpits

Vasco and Oldsalt,

When discussing FTL, Clarke refers to: "Public transport drivers - paid for much longer than they're in an aeroplane - public servants." and Hamilton says "Put a tin tack on the seat."

Do those people realise that they are in public positions and making public pronouncements which demonstrate their ignorance?

AndyPandy068, I think he's just trying a bit of bullying.

It is a good news, sometimes they have to be stopped in Brussel. If you let them do what they want they will push the line to infinity :(

Old Salt wrote:

None of the others on the panel were able to make sensible replies either so it shows that although BALPA having been working hard with their campaign, it hasn't reached far enough.

I have no axe to grind as a retired nav - but I watched 2 BALPA reps on TV - one put the argument very cogently and in language the man on the Clapham supertram could understand; the other spoke in 'aircrew speak' with a plethora of acronyms so I had to translate for the rest of my family. If you only get a few chances to make your point - the man making it needs to be the right one - and that includes coaching and much practice.