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Aviation History
1977
1977 - 3177.PDF
FLIGHT Internationa/, 22 October (977 1199 Letters Sleep-making secrecy SIR—Your September 17 leading article, "Freedom of information," drew attention to circumstances in which Section 36 of the Civil Aviation Act 1971 is fast becoming a catch-all aviation Official Secrets Act. Although I must stress that we have always had the utmost co-operation in obtaining information on airworthiness and most operations matters, we have met difficulties when investigating exces sive aircrew flight time. Airlines are entitled to seek dis pensation or exemptions from the requirements of GAP 371 (Avoidance of Excessive Fatigue in Aircrews) by making their submissions direct to the Civil Aviation Authority or the Flight Time Limitations Board. The majority of these applications have a direct bearing on fatigue and consequently flight safety, but there is no require^ ment for the people they affect most (the line pilots of the company con cerned) to comment on them before they are approved. ATC and safety: laid off . . . SIR—It was with great interest that I read Geoffrey Scott's letter (Septem ber 10) about the effects of industrial disputes on air safety. There is however another ATC factor affecting safety. Over-staffing led the CAA to make a number of ATC officers redundant. There were more applications for redundancy than required, so it was decided to retire the younger applicants and retain the older men. Some of the other success ful applicants were senior non-watch- keeping officers, and there resulted a large number of promotions, ap*- parently defeating the object of financial savings. This might make sense to the CAA politicians, but what of safety? Instead of being controlled entirely by younger, more physically able men, aircraft are at times in the hands of controllers who, although they have the experience and ability, are none the less older, more easily tired and less able to cope with the conditions brought about by the staff cutback. It would seem that the CAA has chosen to ignore the recommendations about older controllers which the medical advisers have made to the Guild of Air Traffic Control Officers. The Willows, p. KNOWLES Black Bull Lane, Preston, Lanes Correspondence for these pages should be addressed to the Editor, Flight International, Dorset House, Stamford Street, London SE1 9LU, and marked "For Publication." Letters should preferably be no more than 300 words long. We reserve the right to edit all correspondence. Balpa does have a nominee to the Flight Time Limitations Board, but he is heavily outnumbered and is one of only two practising pilots there. He is bound by the Official Secrets Act and it is not possible for him to inform Balpa of these applications before they are considered by the Board. Some of the smaller companies appear to go out of their way to avoid having their pilot see the submissions before they are approved. Consequently, the first they know of the schedules is when they become as a fait accompli. It is quite freely admitted that for good industrial relations and in order to obtain a balanced view of the pro posed exemptions, comments by the line pilots directly affected are desirable. This is however not for mally allowed, and the only reason given by the Civil Aviation Authority is Section 36 of the Civil Aviation Act. Balpa, CAPT ROY HUTCHINGS 81 New Road, Harlington, Middx . . . and locked out SIR—I must point out to G. D. Peacock (October 1, "Striking at the heart of safety") that he is preaching to the converted. The air traffic control assistants are acutely conscious of the points he brings up, but it is the CAA he has to convince, not us. In the same issue of Flight the CAA chairman denied any erosion of safety standards as a result of the suspension of the assistants. On the same page as Mr Peacock's letter there was a question from a Polish controller about the Zagreb disaster: "Where was Tasic's assistant?" I don't know where his assistant was, but I know precisely where the UK assistants are: outside the centres and the towers, locked out by the CAA. It is time that others in the aviation industry took a hand in bringing this dispute away from the picket line and back to the negotiating table, where it properly belongs. West London ATC A IAN DOUGLAS Strike Committee (Secretary) Chipmunk conclave SIR—Readers may be interested to learn that the DHC-1 Chipmunk Club has been formed. Its objects are: • To bring together civilian DHC-1 pilots and owners. • To bring together all who were associated with the Chipmunk and still have an interest in the type. • To compile a current register of all DHC-ls and their location. We will communicate initially through a DHC-1 Pilot newsletter. Promotion and identification material Troubleshooter SIR—I would like to quote from the July 18 Balpa newsletter for the short- haul pilots of British Airways: "It is now no longer necessary to restrict the initial opportunities for new entrants into the company [British Airways] since there will, for the foreseeable future, be no new entrants." This statement seems to indicate that Balpa knows that the deferred pilots from the British Air ways courses at Hamble, Oxford and Carlisle are not to be employed by the airline. British Airways' pilot-training estab lishments are still saying that the deferred pilots will be hired on the contract dates given to them on graduation. I would like Balpa and British Air ways to explain this difference of opinion. Dyce Airport, P. T. CHASE Aberdeen Balpa replies: The British Air Line Pilots Association has for some time now been seriously concerned about the pilot surplus in British Airways. It is talking to the company to try to establish what the pilot requirements will be in the future and how quickly the existing surplus will be absorbed. But at a time when some British Airways pilots are getting so little flying that they are running into recency problems, it would be un professional of Balpa to accept more pilots into the system. The answer is of course expansion, and we hope that this will improve matters in the future. But for the present it does appear that until numbers are reduced by natural wastage, those unfortunate deferred pilots will have to wait a. little longer. British Airways replies: The British Airways position is unchanged. All new entrant pilots trained for British Airways will be offered employment with the airline on their contractual dates. The dates of the flying courses have not however yet been defined. Troubleshooter on target again Michael Bagshaw (see Troubleshooter last week) writes: "I have now received a letter from the CAA Head of Flight Crew Licensing informing me that my case has been recon sidered and that I no longer have to take a renewal flight test while my RAF rating is current. I can only assume that the reconsideration is a result of your investigation, for which I am grateful. Common sense rules, OK!"
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