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A briefing for MPs and peers has been hosted in Parliament to raise awareness about the impact of EU regulations on pilot fatigue.
A session hosted in the Boothroyd Room of Portcullis House on Wednesday afternoon heard about the potential effects that fatigue legislation from the European Union would have on airline pilots.
Under the proposed legislation, recommended by the European Aviation Safety Agency, pilots could fly with fatigue levels equivalent to being four times over the legal alcohol limit.
The Agency has recommended limiting flying time to 13 hours and 55 minutes, more than a third longer than the current regulations imposed by the UK Parliament.
Attendees at the briefing, who included Conservative MPs Andrew Selous and Tony Baldry and David Hanson of Labour, heard from Dr Rob Hunter, the British Airline Pilots' Association's head of flight safety and security.
Hunter highlighted the under-reporting of pilots falling asleep whilst airborne and described it as a "taboo".
He said: "Alcohol and lack of sleep affect our abilities in similar ways. Using the CAA's own scientific model for calculating fatigue, the proposed EU regulations would see pilots landing their aircraft with the equivalent performance detriment of being four times over the legal alcohol limit for flying."
Hunter also noted the increase in the risk of pilots falling asleep at the same time: 31 per cent of pilots have admitted to falling asleep, only to wake up and find their co-pilot asleep, he said.
Also speaking at the briefing, 'Pilot tiredness and the safety of the travelling public', was First Officer Captain Matt Hicks, a Qantas pilot involved in an A380 emergency.
Hicks gave a first-hand account of saving the Qantas aeroplane and its passengers, following an engine explosion which caused damage to the aircraft.
And Barry Sheerman MP, secretary of the transport safety all-party group, urged parliamentarians to appreciate the predominantly safe nature of air transport.
Sheerman said: "Aviation is still the safest mode of transport that we have."
'Pilot tiredness and the safety of the travelling public' was hosted by PACTS (Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety) and BALPA (British Airline Pilots' Association)
Dods Parliamentary Communications Ltd
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