yang orang persoalkan sekarang adalah safety nya
ye lah kan
low cost... mesti nak jimat semua benda kan?
yang itu kita persoalkan... adakah kos safety pun diperjimatkan untuk pesawat low cost?
Budget flights 'danger'
[size=1.2em]Budget airline pilots have been accused of putting passengers' lives at risk in a scramble to be first to land at airports.
[size=1.2em]Air traffic controllers say pilots from some low cost airlines are under such 'unacceptable pressure' to hit tight deadlines they are disobeying air traffic control instructions.
[size=1.2em]The controllers allege that pilots attempt to save time by approaching airports too quickly and sometimes are even forced to abandon a landing because they fly too close to the plane in front.
[size=1.2em]Such is the competitive pressure to be first, that air traffic controllers report mid-air verbal battles as some pilots try to bluster their way in.
[size=1.2em]The claims are contained in a report by the aviation industry's official 'whistleblowers' body - the Confidential Human Factors Incident Reporting Programme (CHIRP).
[size=1.2em]In the latest issue of the CHIRPS bulletin, which is circulated only within the industry, one air traffic controller highlights a string of problems and concludes that 'it is occurring with increasing frequency and, in my judgment, is due in part to the aggressively commercial ethos that exists within some airline companies'.
[size=1.2em]He urges directors of CHIRPS to act 'before it reaches a level with the potential to compromise safety'.
[size=1.2em]The report as been forwarded to the Civil Aviation Authority and is understood to refer mainly to Ryanair and its base at Stansted Airport in Essex.
[size=1.2em]It alleges pilots are ignoring longer flight paths designed to lower noise disturbance and are flying too close to villages, even passing directly over them on some occasions.
[size=1.2em]Air traffic controllers are forced to put up with 'overly aggressive responses' and with pilots who repeatedly challenge instructions and information on visibility or whether the aircraft in front has safely cleared the runway.
[size=1.2em]Pilots use their radios to complain when they are not given priority, with one crew grumbling furiously as another aircraft had only been allowed to land first because they were not UK nationals.
[size=1.2em]Budget airlines use their aircraft more intensively than traditional scheduled airlines.
[size=1.2em]Typically, they leave a gap of just 25 minutes between arriving and departing, managing four return journeys to Europe in a day - double that of a British Airways jet.
[size=1.2em]But Ryanair marketing director Tim Jeans said: 'We don't cut corners-while the aircraft is airborne. Turnaround times are tighter but safety and security are an absolute priority and there is nothing we would do to compromise that.
[size=1.2em]'There is no more pressure on our pilots to depart on time than there is on British Airways.'
[size=1.2em]Go and easyJet also said safety was paramount.
[size=1.2em]But David Learmount, safety editor of Flight International, said the report indicated that pilots were under pressure to cut corners and to achieve punctuality targets. 'If this is a symptom of unacceptable pressure, then it is only a matter of time before the pilots make a mistake that matters,' he said.
[size=1.2em]The claims came as Ryanair was criticised over the age of its fleet.
[size=1.2em]EasyJet said half of Ryanair's fleet is made up of second hand aircraft, some of which date back to the early 1980s.
|