Airbus sets out its stall ahead of new plane development

New European rules ‘harmonizing’ the workload limits across 27 member states could allow pilots to fly aircraft for 22 hours without sleep, increasing a pilot’s work day from 16 hours 15 minutes to 20 hours, and the maximum shift time for a long haul flight with two pilots from 12 to 14 hours, as well as eliminating the need of a third pilot on long-haol flights.

The proposals have raised the attention of BALPA, The British Airline Pilots Association.

The seventeen percent increase in workload will result in a 5.5% higher chance of an accident.

It is inconceivable how EASA can call “flying farther with less rest-time, more frequently (7 starts in a row), no back up crew and more fatigue” bringing standards “up” when it is actually leveling down safety standards. Such a workload flies in the face of the constructs of human biology.

But the UK’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) “has said they have no fundamental problem with the rules.”