Britain's 15,000 current and retired airline pilots are going out to recruit parliamentary candidates of all Parties to the cause of sticking up for UK airline safety standards.

About half the people of the UK will fly during the next 12 months and the pilots and their union, BALPA (British Airline Pilots' Association) are presenting to all candidates the BALPA Manifesto which sets out what needs to be done for civil aviation in the future. And at its heart is the call to protect safety standards.

'We shall be asking candidates individually if they will work with us to avert the danger we, and their constituents as airline passengers, face,' said Jim Causal, BALPA General Secretary.

'For decades British airlines have flown to standards set by the UK's Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). They are among the highest standards in the world, and as a consequence British airline passengers have been some of the best protected.

'Now all that is at risk,' Jim McAuslan warned. 'Because the setting of airline safety standards moves from individual national regulators like our own CAA to an EU body, the European Aviation Safety Authority (EASA). BALPA welcomes the move to standardise, but only if safety is set at the kind of levels British pilots and British passengers have enjoyed and which science says is safe.

'Unfortunately the early signs are that come 2012 EASA is going to set standards for Flight Time Limitations - the fatigue avoidance rules which say when pilots can and cannot fly to maintain safety - much lower than we have at present in the UK. If this happens then British lives will be put at more risk.

'It looks at present that EASA wants to jettison the high standards of the UK's Civil Aviation Authority which are based on science, and this at a time when 15 to 20 per cent of all fatal air accidents have pilot fatigue as a key contributing factor,' Jim McAuslan said

'It is almost unbelievable that when government in the USA is toughening up Flight Time Limitations because of some terrible tragedies, Europe may be going in the opposite direction.

'Parliamentary candidates of all Parties need to work with us to protect their constituents' safety.'

The BALPA Manifesto covers a range of issues of other concern to pilots including the need for emissions trading to protect the environment, the need for more airport infrastructure and the need for improvements in airport security measures. The manifesto also asks for action to tackle the exploitation of newly qualified pilots many of whom are having to pay airlines an extra £34,000 to get the opportunity to gain experience by flying aircraft full of fare paying passengers. This is on top of the £70,000 plus they needed to self-finance to get the basic qualification

Jim McAuslan concluded: 'The outward appearance of aviation may remain glamorous but there are real deep-seated trends that make it no such thing. Parliamentary candidates need to wake up to this if they have the best interests of their constituents at heart. We want them to prove it by joining our cause.'

Source: BALPA