Emirates Disputes Insufficient Rest Claims

It appears that Emirates Airlines has now shot back at an Australian newspaper that claimed that a tired pilot was the cause for a near miss at Melbourne Airport. The report went on to claim that the crew did not have enough time to rest before the Melbourne to Dubai flight that took place on March 20.

Many European air crew unions have come forward and argued that the current 14 hour flight working times that are imposed by the EU is an hour over the accepted scientific limit. They go on to show that this can lead to fatigue, which is a factor in almost 15 percent of all accidents.

During the Melbourne incident, a plane that was bound for Dubai was able to just miss the perimeter fence of the airport. This was due to a miscalculation by the pilot. Reports suggest that the pilot only slept for three and a half hours in the previous day and was very close to reaching his maximum allowed 100 flying hours for the month.

Richard Vaughan, the Emirate’s divisional senior vice president for commercial operations worldwide, said that this statement did not included any objective data that was provided by the company. He also noted that the reports only quoted anonymous sources.

He went on to say that the crew for that flight was given a 24 hour layover time in Melbourne, which is sufficient time to rest. Also, the Australian Transport and Safety Bureau indicated that they did not find any evidence to suggest fatigue was a factor. The statements made by these reports are unsupported by any actual facts.