Two publications this month shed some rare illumination on this question and the life of aircrew. They don’t make for comfortable reading. The first is the EU Commission’s report “Aviation Strategy for Europe: Maintaining and promoting high social standards”, an attempt to get a grasp of

Unauthorised drones are arriving at airports and this is not good news. The counter-drone industry is working on solutions for protecting airports. Should airports invest more in drone detection, identification and drone neutralisation systems? For operational reasons – the answer is

Edwin Tasma and David Abad, members of the ECA’s Helicopter Working Group delivered two key presentations at EASA’s Rotorcraft Symposium. Their mission: bringing their operational experience into the decision-making process at EU level & ultimately – improving safety!

New mothers are often left to discover themselves how to smoothly transition back to work after having a child. When this new mother is also a commercial pilot, it becomes even more difficult to balance a new motherhood with the long times away from home and unsociable work schedules. How

European pilots and cabin crew are experiencing unusually high levels of fatigue, incompatible with an acceptable level of flight safety, despite recent European legislation that is supposed to counter this. A new study reveals major shortcomings of the Flight Time Limitations (FTL) – i.e.

EU and Qatari airlines will enjoy 3rd and 4th freedom traffic rights for passenger flights and ‘limited’ 5th freedom rights for cargo operations. This market opening is in line with the EU’s quest for further liberalisation in aviation and its ambition to reach agreements with other 3rd

A key part of the FTL regulation was a requirement mandated by the European Parliament in the face of evidence that the original rules exceeded the recommendations of fatigue scientists in a number of areas. It required a scientific study to be undertaken, examining six areas where there

A new revision of the EU regulation on pilots’ background checks introduces an “intelligence pillar” as of 31 Dec 2020. The new requirement to include and analyse intelligence information will become a mandatory element of the thorough background checks which pilots undergo every 5 year.

The way we screen and recruit pilot cadets in Europe is an issue that lately has been raising eyebrows amongst industry experts. Today, the bulk of training schools screen their future clients – the cadets ¬– themselves. The industry has turned a blind eye to this conflict of interest for

Pilots and Air Traffic Controllers should be familiar with the best practice “Drone Sighting Guidelines” (developed by BALPA and GATCO and widely endorsed), and follow them.

“Bigjet 141, Go Around, I say again, Go Around, acknowledge.”

Outwardly: “Groan…” 

Inwardly: maybe a little bit of a startle, perhaps a certain amount of adrenaline.

“Go Around.” These words, and the reactions to them, are some of the most important to a pilot, whether initiated