NEWS from BALPA

British Airline Pilots’ Association
Monday 18th September 2006

BRITAIN’S PILOTS CALL FOR SEVEN NEW SECURITY STEPS

Britain’s pilots, unhappy at many aspects of the current security regime at airports and on aircraft, have written to Transport Minister Douglas Alexander urging him to make some major changes.

‘These changes are desperately needed to allow pilots to more easily undertake their critical safety role’ says Jim McAuslan, General Secretary of the British Airline Pilots’ Association. ‘Iif this is not done I can see UK aviation grinding to a halt’

BALPA, which has over 9,000 of Britain’s airline pilots in membership, wants the recommendations from pilots to be taken much more seriously.

In the letter to Douglas Alexander BALPA Chairman Captain Mervyn Granshaw writes: ‘We operate in a unique environment and have long been regarded and respected as the eyes and ears of the industry and with whom co-operation has proven repeatedly to be a winning formula.

‘But it doesn’t feel that way and, as a group of professionals, we find ourselves being seen as part of the problem and not part of the cure.’

The letter expresses frustration that problems at national level are worsened by different interpretations of security measures by local airport security staff. ‘So the daily routine of a professional pilot becomes frustrating and we are distracted away from our primary safety role as we navigate a regime that frankly gives security a bad name.’

‘Right now BALPA wants to agree a list of items that pilots can carry onto their aircraft which they need to do their job and which are being removed from them as they pass through security. Flying licences, log books, laptops and even contact lens cleaner have been taken from them and in some instances lost.’

Reflecting on the recent developments and looking slightly further ahead, BALPA also wishes to address the following six issues:

• Develop a central international biometric security pass system for all pilots so that pilots can be identified and travel through airports more easily.
• Speed up passenger profiling and new technology such as body scanners, semi-automatic x-ray machines and bottle scanners for essential medicine, and require all airport operators to have a dedicated fast track channel for pilots.
• Insist on the application of a consistent security regime getting rid of anomalies between airports.
• Require all airport operators to establish an operational task group so that employee representatives can meet security directors face to face and iron out problems.
• Review the standards of recruitment and training of security staff. Give them decent conditions and more power to exercise discretion.
• Accelerate the fitment of hardened cockpit doors for cargo aircraft. Cargo aircraft often carry non-security-cleared personnel. Both types of aircraft can be weapons of mass destruction. In addition, freight profiling to determine which cargo needs particularly careful screening.

Finally BALPA urges the Government to help more with the cost of these measures. Too much of the cost of security is borne by the industry.

Says Captain Mervyn Granshaw, Chairman of BALPA: ‘We want to work with the Government but too many pilots feel that the system is conspiring to make their jobs more difficult rather than improving security.

‘Some of the measures we are calling for assist and enhance the security of passengers directly. Others assist us, as the pilots, to do our job and not be burdened by unnecessary and often inconsistent applications. This is not about special pleading; it is about recognising that we are in a different position. And of course, if we cannot do our jobs properly, that puts passengers at risk too.’

CLICK HERE FOR A COPY OF THE LETTER SENT TO TRANSPORT MINISTER DOUGLAS ALEXANDER