More than half of British airline pilots say they have fallen asleep in the cockpit, a survey said, ahead of an EU vote on flying hours which a pilots' association said could compromise flight safety.
According to the British Airline Pilots' Association (BALPA), 56 percent of 500 commercial pilots admitted to being asleep while on the flight deck and, of those, nearly one in three said they had woken up to find their co-pilot also asleep.
Pilot exhaustion grabbed the headlines this week when a newspaper reported two pilots on a British long-haul flight fell asleep in the cockpit, leaving the packed jet travelling unsupervised on autopilot.
The survey, released by BALPA, came ahead of a vote in the European Parliament on Monday on new rules which could replace British regulations.
BALPA, a trade union for pilots, voiced concerns that these proposed changes would water down British safety standards.
The rule changes would mean that pilots could work a maximum of 110 hours in a two-week period, more than the 95-hour limit under British regulations, and at night could be expected to fly for up to 11 hours, against a current 10-hour limit.
"Tiredness is already a major challenge for pilots who are deeply concerned that unscientific new EU rules will cut UK standards and lead to increased levels of tiredness, which has been shown to be a major contributory factor in air accidents," BALPA General Secretary Jim McAuslan said in a statement.
The proposals, devised by the European Aviation Safety Agency to harmonize the rules regarding pilots' hours across the European Union, would also mean they could be called to work at any time on their days off. Currently, restrictions are in place to help them plan their rest on days off.
The survey of pilots, by pollster ComRes, found 84 percent of respondents believed their abilities had been compromised over the last six months by tiredness with almost half saying pilot exhaustion was the biggest threat to flight safety.
British lawmakers, in a report published earlier this month, expressed concern that the new European rules set the limit for the flight duty period at night too high.
But the Association of European Airlines, which represents 31 European airlines, urged support for the proposals, saying they would ensure all airlines followed the same rules.
"The new ... rules would ensure that Europe will continue to have one of the strictest rules in the world, even stricter than today," the body's acting Secretary-General Athar Husain Khan said in a statement.
The Civil Aviation Agency, Britain's aviation regulator, dismissed worries about the new rules.
"We think the new European flight time limitation regulations maintain the UK's current high safety levels, and will actually increase safety for UK passengers travelling on some other European airlines," it said in a statement.
據國外媒體報道，英國民航駕駛員協會 (BALPA)最近的一次調查顯示，500名商業飛機駕駛員中有56％承認曾在開飛機時打盹，其中三分之一的人稱，他們醒來時發現副駕駛也在打盹。
本周，英國一家報紙報道，一架英國遠程航班的兩名駕駛員在駕駛艙里睡著了，任由飛機依靠自動駕駛儀導航，這架擠滿乘客的噴氣式客機竟成了在空中遨游的“無人機”。此后，飛行員疲勞駕駛登上了許多媒體的頭條。
英國民航駕駛員協會公布的這次調查針對的是歐洲議會新修改的空中飛行規則。9月30日，歐洲議會各成員國將對該規則進行投票，如果通過，英國現有規則將被取代。
按照新規則，駕駛員可能在兩周內最高工作110小時，高于英國現有規則規定的95小時上限。飛行員夜間還可能飛行11小時，也超出了英國目前規定的最高10小時。
調查發現，84％的受訪者相信，他們的能力在過去六個月中因疲勞駕駛受到影響，近一半受訪者認為駕駛員疲勞是飛行安全的最大隱患。
“飛行員對疲勞駕駛深表擔心。新的歐盟規則是不科學的，會降低英國現有標準，增加飛行員的疲勞程度，已有證據顯示，疲勞駕駛是多數飛行事故的主要成因，”英國民航駕駛員協會秘書長吉姆•麥考斯倫（Jim McAuslan）在聲明中說。
歐洲航空安全局（European Aviation Safety Agency）提出的這套建議旨在統一歐盟各國飛行員的駕駛時間，但這也意味著，飛行員在假期可能被召喚回工作崗位。目前尚有規定保證他們在假期休息的權利。
代表31個歐洲航空公司的歐洲航空業協會（Association of European Airlines）敦促各國支持新提議，稱將保證歐洲所有航空公司遵循統一的標準。
“新規則將保證歐洲繼續擁有全世界最嚴格的航空規則，甚至比今天的規則更加嚴格，”該組織代理秘書長阿特•侯賽因•汗（Athar Husain Khan）在聲明中說。 |
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