Pilots were asked what they do when too tired to fly. Credit: Yaroslav Astakhov / Shutterstock
Passengers boarding a flight tend to rightfully assume the people up front and in charge have had a proper night’s sleep. However, 42.1 per cent of surveyed pilots at Spanish-certified airlines said that when they’re unfit through tiredness they usually carry on flying rather than report it, the highest of any country in the survey.
Spain’s figure is the highest in the survey
Asked what they usually do when they’re too tired to be fit for duty, 42.1 per cent of pilots working for airlines holding a Spanish air operator’s certificate chose ‘Do not report and fly anyway’. Another 21.4 per cent of the same group said they usually report themselves unfit.
Across all the countries covered, the total amount who fly on without reporting was 24.2 per cent, while for UK-certified airlines it was 9.5 per cent.
The poll was carried out for the European Cockpit Association (ECA), which represents pilots’ unions and associations, and 7,198 pilots answered the main questions between August 4 and September 7. More than half of them said that in the previous three months they’d flown at least one flight they later felt they should have declared themselves unfit for.
The figures don’t point out any single airline
It’s worth being clear about what the survey can and can’t show. It was voluntary, so it reflects the experiences of pilots who chose to take part rather than every pilot in Europe, and the ECA is itself a pilots’ body. Only 658 pilots at Spanish-certified airlines answered this question, against 767 at UK-certified ones.
The country figures also refer to where an airline is certified, not pilots’ nationality or the routes they fly, so they can’t identify how any one airline performs. Nor do they show that Spanish airlines are less safe.
The same caution applies to the survey’s other eye-catching number. The 76.8 per cent of pilots who reported at least one episode in the previous four weeks were answering a question that also covered head nodding and struggling to keep their eyes open, which doesn’t mean three in four pilots fell asleep at the controls, but is still an extremely disconcerting figure to think about if you’re sat on the plane. In the Spanish-certified group, 33.1 per cent reported five or more such episodes.
Why tired pilots feel unable to stop
The main reasons pilots gave for staying quiet are about what happens afterwards. Of those who’d flown when they later felt they should have reported, 46.9 per cent worried that management would react badly, 44 per cent didn’t want to draw attention to themselves and 34.8 per cent didn’t want to inconvenience the company.
Money matters in Spain too, though. Among Spanish-certified pilots who’d flown unfit, 42.8 per cent cited worry about losing pay, the second-highest rate in the survey after Finland.
Other pilots simply said they hadn’t realised how tired they were until they were partway through their shift or had finished it.
What are the reporting systems meant to protect crews and passengers
Airlines are required to manage fatigue risks, and pilots can declare themselves unfit for duty if they’re too tired to fly. Most know how to do it, with 82.3 per cent saying they know how to submit a fatigue report. However, only 11.9 per cent said they trust their airline’s system, and just 11.3 per cent said reports had led to changes in how the airline operates.
Captains can also extend a working day in exceptional circumstances, using what’s known as commander’s discretion, and 38.3 per cent of pilots had done so at least once in the previous four weeks. EU rules say airlines must have a no-blame process around it, but the report says for many pilots that process exists on paper without working in practice.
The ECA is calling for stronger oversight and for pilots to be able to report fatigue without fear of consequences. Until airlines and regulators respond, passengers have no way of telling from the departure gate how rested the crew are, though nothing in the survey suggests a Spanish flight is any less safe.