As the new EASA Flight Time Limitations (FTL) rules came into effect on February 18th, the industry shifts to a fully harmonised European set of rules aimed at preventing air crew fatigue from constituting a risk to flight safety. However, with low levels of understanding of the complex new rules, even after a transition period of 2 years, many operators and national authorities are not ready yet for the shift.
After a controversial legislative process in 2013, where adoption by the European Parliament was not certain due to concerns about an insufficient scientific basis, the new rules will now cover all aspects of fatigue risk mitigation, including those which previously were still covered by national legislation, such as time-zone crossing, sleep-disrupting flight schedules etc.
“Moving to a harmonised EU-wide system is a logical step to do as pilot fatigue does not stop at national borders” says ECA President Dirk Polloczek. “Therefore, strong scientifically-based FTL rules are a must and we look forward to the operational data-driven scientific review that EASA is mandated to carry out within the next 3 years.“
As a stand-alone act, the introduction of the new FTL rules will not be able to fully mitigate the risks of fatigue in the cockpit and cabin,” says Didier Moraine Chairman of the ECA FTL Working Group. “This is why setting up a robust fatigue risk management system inside each company is not only a legal obligation, but also an absolute must for any company that is serious about identifying its own fatigue related risks and then actively mitigating them.”
“Due to their complexity, the new rules constitute a very concrete and immediate challenge” continues Moraine. “Interpreting them correctly and in a harmonised manner will remain difficult not only for the companies and national authorities, but also for the individual pilots. This is why ECA developed an online FTL Calculator – allowing each pilot to calculate the legal limits for their daily flight duties."
“As our survey among 6.000 European pilots showed, the application of the new EASA rules is a timely reminder that fatigue is a reality today in Europe’s cockpits,” says ECA Secretary General Philip von Schöppenthau. “And the real extent of the problem is still not reflected in official data as over 70% of all fatigue occurrences are not reported. The good news, however, is that under the new EU Occurrence Reporting Regulation fatigue reporting is no longer a choice but an obligation.”
