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Letter to members of ALPA-SA |
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Dear members;
To become a pilot, a person needs courage. It is a daunting task to face all the hours of instruction, the mountains of exams and the constant medical certifications. This courage and determination, however, doesn’t stop once the ink has dried on the licence. Once you have a Comm licence you are faced with decisions on a daily basis that test your decision making skills, your training and also your courage. Thunderstorms, problem passengers and technical problems will test your skills to the end.
Hand in hand with courage goes responsibility. It is your responsibility to ensure that your licence is valid, that you are fit to fly, and that the aircraft is airworthy before you climb in. Some of the toughest decisions facing charter pilots is saying “no” to continuing a flight when something is not legal.
Yes, it is tough to tell your boss that you refuse to do the duty that you are rostered for. But it is your responsibility to do just that. If the boss is telling you to fly an aircraft overweight, it is your responsibility to say no. Apart from this being against the law, you owe it to your passengers, who are paying vast quantities of money, to protect their lives. You owe it to yourselves not to have your licence revoked for breaking the law.
In the same vein, FDP is not a nicety so that pilots can get their beauty sleep. The blood shed by fellow pilots has directly contributed to the evolution of the current legislated FDP. It is only in your best interest to comply with the FDP limitations, and it may just save your life. You owe it to your passengers, and the pilots who lost their lives bringing in the change, to say no when you are told to exceed legal FDP limits.
It needs immense courage to do this. But if you think about it, if you agree to fly the aircraft overweight, and you lose an engine after take off, the courage you will require to get the aircraft back on the ground without loss of life, is immeasurably more that what would be required to have just said NO. Added to that, the courage required when you face the CAA in the subsequent investigation, will be huge.
It’s just not worth it. The fact of the matter is - if you are caught flying overweight, even if your boss coerced you into doing it, it is your licence on the line. The buck stops at the Captain. Not at the boss.
It is easier to comply with the law, than to sort out the resulting mess surrounding an incident with an illegal flight. You have legal recourse should your job be threatened because you refuse to do something illegal. You do not have any legal recourse should you knowingly break the law and you have an incident or accident – and the situation would be even more dire if people are killed, as you could be held civilly and perhaps even criminally liable.
ALPA-SA has a legal department which has proven itself in industrial disputes, and is available to all ALPA-SA members when their jobs are threatened. If your job is threatened because you are refusing to break the law on your boss’s behalf, pick up the phone and phone (011) 394-5310 immediately – before you do the flight!
Having said that, a chain is only as strong as each individual link. Only if the pilots in a company stand together and present a united front in complying with the law, will things improve. If one or two pilots are prepared to fly overweight and disregard FDP, they will be undermining the collective and the company will continue its bullying tactics. However, if each and every pilot does the right thing and refuses to break the law, you will gradually notice that the safety culture in your company will change – all the way to the top – and that it will eventually be a much happier place to work.
The bottom line:
• Refuse to break the law.
• Do not participate in illegal activities such as changing figures on loadsheets.
• Report irregularities on your flight report and to the CAA via the Confidential Aviation Hazard Reporting System (CAHRS).
• Phone ALPA for advice if you are placed in an untenable situation.
Yours sincerely,
Margaret Viljoen
Elected Member
ALPA-SA |
