Photograph by Hussein Abdallah
In report to the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA), a pilot admitted that both he and his copilot fell asleep whilst their Airbus A330 passenger jet was on auto-pilot last month, with both pilots only having had five hours sleep over the previous two nights.
A spokesperson from the CAA called the incident serious but isolated where “lessons will be learnt”, but UK pilots agency Palpa said it comes as “no surprise” and that they had “repeatedly warned the CAA of the risk” over recent months.
Balpas General Secretary Jim McAuslan said:
British pilots want to make every flight a safe flight and tiredness is the biggest challenge they face.
As the regulator responsible for UK flight safety, the CAA has been far too complacent about the levels of tiredness among British pilots and failing to acknowledge the scale of the under-reported problem.
In fact, the CAA and Government are backing EU cuts to UK flight safety that will increase tiredness among pilots and the risk of dangerous incidents.
The proposed regulations would allow for pilots to work seven early starts in a row and land an aircraft after being awake for 22 hours. They would also allow airlines to operate longer hail flights with two crew rather than the three which are currently required.
