A former flight safety official urged travellers to have faith in the airline industry and start travelling again once the COVID-19 pandemic is over.
However, former Malaysia Airline Systems (MAS) head of flight safety Capt Kamil Abu Bakar acknowledged that aircraft pilots may be a “little rusted” now as they are grounded.
“Being creatures of habit, we need to be hands-on, especially pilots. Being out of practise after some time, we will naturally become ‘rusty’.
“And this is what’s happening to the pilots due to the pandemic, as planes are grounded for now,” he told FocusM.
On Sept 15, an Indonesian flight carrying 307 passengers and 11 crew members to the northern city of Medan veered off the runway momentarily after landing.
An investigation by the nation’s transport safety regulator found that the pilot had flown less than three hours in the previous 90 days. The first officer has not flown a plane since Feb.
Europe’s top aviation safety official also attributed the crash involving an aircraft belonging to Pakistan International Airlines Corp in May to “rusty pilots”. The crash killed all but two of the 99 people on-board.
Training and retraining
Touching on the incidents, Kamil said the coronavirus pandemic has caused pilots and planes to be grounded, leaving them with little opportunity to continue flying.
However, Kamil reassured the public that airliners have their own mechanism to ensure pilots remain fit to fly again.
“The pilots will undergo computer-based training before they are allowed to fly again, followed by simulator sessions.
“They will cover modules such as Engine Failure Take-Off (EFATO) and Line-Oriented Flight Training (LOFT),” he said.
In the meantime, Kamil added, airliners usually keep their pilots in the loop by offering them online courses.
“Some lucky ones even get simulator time to get themselves updated and flight-ready,” he said.
Kamil said that once the retrained pilots show competency, the airline management will clear them for line flying, under the supervision of an examiner of airmen or flight instructor, followed by a line-check.
“And the management will ensure that no two ‘rusty pilots’ or inexperienced ones are paired to fly together,” he said. – Dec 6, 2020.
