Last Updated- May 3, 2009 6:39 - - 0 Comments


Emirates pilots fear eminent crash

emiratesThree Emirates pilots have spoken out about fatigue problems at the airline, saying passenger safety is under threat.

The pilots, who all currently fly for the airline, spoke separately to the Sunday Herald Sun to outline concerns about fatigue, morale and management of the United Arab Emirates-based airline.

“I don’t want to see a smoking hole in the ground with an Emirates tail on it, but the way we’re going that’s highly probable,” one pilot said.

The men’s concerns came after the Australian Transport Safety Bureau made a preliminary finding that fatigue did not appear to be a factor in the accident of an Emirates jet at Melbourne Airport on March 20.

The comments by the ATSB came even though the pilot had barely slept in the day before the accident and had flown 98.9 hours in the previous month.

He was allowed to fly a maximum of 100 hours.

One pilot insisted fatigue was a major problem for ultra-long-haul pilots, who were averaging 90 hours of flying time every 28 days and often reaching their maximum allowable limit.

The pilots who spoke to the Sunday Herald Sun asked for their names to be withheld, fearing repercussions from the airline.

Australian and International Pilots Association president Barry Jackson said Qantas ultra-long-haul pilots flew significantly fewer hours than their Emirates colleagues.

While they had a limit of 100 flying hours in 30 days, compared with Emirates’ 100 hours in 28 days, they usually averaged 60-70 hours.

Mr Jackson, a serving Qantas pilot, said Emirates’ long-haul flying policy was “a lot tougher on their pilots”.

“They would be working a lot harder than us,” Mr Jackson said.

One of the Emirates pilots urged the ATSB to examine the crew records of the pilot and first officer in charge of EK407, the flight that almost crashed at Melbourne Airport after the wrong numbers were entered into the plane’s computer.

He said all pilots were being worked incredibly hard as Emirates struggled through the global economic crisis.

“If there is going to be a fatigue-related accident, it is probably going to be Emirates,” he said.

Emirates has grounded four other pilots as a result of near-fatal blunders in the past month.

In Ghana, an Emirates crew typed the wrong take-off calculations into their aircraft when they took off from Kotoka International Airport in Accra.

The problem was discovered because the plane took off too low and a noise complaint was lodged when the plane flew over the presidential palace, a no-go zone.

In England, an Emirates flight lined up to land on the wrong runway at Manchester.

The pilot did a “go-around” – but tracked the wrong course as he climbed away from the runway.

“When people are tired, these mistakes happen,” a second Emirates pilot said, referring to the Melbourne accident.

“There is a huge issue with fatigue.”

A third pilot questioned whether Emirates took seriously the contents of any air safety reports filed by pilots.

Source: Herald Sun

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