Revealed: Pilots’ dossier alleges safety concerns
Transport Committee advised it ‘cannot investigate claims’
AN EXPLOSIVE 213-page dossier detailing serious concerns over airline safety and pilot working conditions has been given to the Oireachtas Transport Committee, the Sunday Independent can reveal.
The document highlights complaints raised by the Irish Airline Pilots’ Association (IALPA) to the Irish Aviation Authority (IAA).
The file includes correspondence between the pilots’ union and the aviation authority in which serious allegations are made about how safety complaints are handled by the authority.
One document marked “private and confidential” details 10 case studies of pilots who reported grievances to their employers and, in some instances, claim to have suffered adverse consequences. In most cases, the pilots’ complaints were brought to the attention of the IAA but they were unhappy with how they were handled by the aviation authority.
The detailed complaints contained in the dossier allege a range of issues from pilots claiming they suffered consequences for refusing to fly over safety concerns to others alleging their careers were affected when they highlighted issues to management.
Pilots claim they faced dis- ciplinary action for refusing to fly due to weather conditions or if they believed their crew was not fit for work.
The file also alleges a pilot broke down at a meeting with the IAA when he recounted his experience after he raised safety concerns.
The file also details the alleged plight of some cabin crew who are not represented by IALPA but who work with their members. This included claims cabin crew come to work sick because they are afraid to take days off work for medical reasons. In some cases, sick cabin crew members are “carried” by colleagues to avoid being identified.
“It is unheard of for a cabin crew member to report being fatigued. It is not unheard of for them to fall asleep on duty,” it said.
The allegations are contained in an addendum to a 2012 letter from IALPA president Captain Evan Cullen to IAA chairperson Anne Nolan.
Mr Cullen said some pilots had lost faith in the system for reporting complaints to the IAA and suggested this means data on reports raised may be inaccurate.
In response, Ms Nolan rejected the claim of inaction by the IAA in investigating complaints and said some of the issues raised by the union were outside its remit as it related to employment law.
The dossier also contains correspondence between the pilots union and the Department of Transport over an unpublished technical and performance review of the IAA. The review was completed in 2015 following demands from the IALPA but has never been published.
The union has written several letters to the department seeking the report. Mr Cullen was due to appear before the Transport Committee last week. However, the committee received legal advice that it could not review the contents of the dossier provided by IALPA because some of the content was outside of its remit.
“The committee’s remit is to consider matters of governance and policy, and possibly administration, in respect of public bodies such as IAA. It has no function in assessing the IAA’s interaction with a particular airline, let alone adjudicating on the safety of that airline’s business practices,” the advice stated.
Oireachtas legal advisers also noted some of the material in the document related to an ongoing legal case.
A recent committee hearing attended by IALPA was abruptly ended after Captain Cullen claimed the IAA did not respond efficiently to safety reports from pilots.
“Information on safety provided to the IAA goes into a black hole,” he said.
Transport Committee chairperson Fergus O’Dowd ended the meeting and said he wanted to see an opening statement from IALPA which he would show to the IAA before they could appear.
In a statement, the IAA said that it “strongly refutes claims made by the pilot trade union” and noted that the allegations dated back a number of years.
“The IAA takes all reports relating to safety extremely seriously,” a spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added that the IAA is internationally ranked as amongst the best in the world in the safety oversight of civil aviation.