THE minimum number of flying hours for trainee commercial pilots is to be halved under new rules that are being rushed through despite protests that the changes will be unsafe.

Newly qualified pilots are to be allowed to take control of airliners after only 70 hours’ flying experience. Under the present rules, pilots must accumulate at least 145 flying hours before being entrusted with carrying passengers.

The new training scheme, due to be introduced by the end of the year, places far more emphasis on flying in simulators. The time that trainees spend in simulators will almost double, from 90 to 170 hours.

The changes are being supported by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which has come under pressure from Lufthansa, the German airline, to reform pilot licensing. Lufthansa has invested heavily in new simulators and hopes to rent them to pilot training organisations throughout Europe.

But the British Air Line Pilots’ Association argues that a simulator is no substitute for real flying experience. Martin Alder, the head of the association’s safety group and an airline captain with 30 years’ experience, said: “Simulators may be amazingly realistic but you always know you will be going home at the end of the day. There is no substitute for the unpredictability of real flying.

“It is vital for building confidence for dealing with difficult situations.”

Although newly qualified pilots will be accompanied by captains with several years’ experience, there may be occasions when they have to fly the plane alone. Mr Alder said there had been several previous incidents in which a co-pilot’s flying skills had saved hundreds of lives.

A British Airways jumbo jet came within four seconds of plunging into an irrecoverable nosedive in December 2000 after a deranged Kenyan student entered the cockpit and grabbed the controls. As the captain grappled with the intruder, the co-pilot used skills that he had learnt while flying RAF Tornados to bring the aircraft back under control. “His flying skills were key to the recovery and we must preserve similar skills in future pilots,” Mr Alder said.

The changes were partly being pushed through for commercial reasons, he added. There is a growing shortage of pilots in Europe and airlines are keen to streamline the training process.

The pilots’ association has appealed to ICAO and Europe’s Joint Aviation Authorities to hold trials before introducing the licence. “We need to assess the results of trials before exposing the public to this,” Mr Alder said.

Graham Austin, the chief executive of Cabair, one of Britain’s biggest pilot training companies, said that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) had been alerted to the dangers but had failed to act. “The CAA has asked for advice on the new licence but has ignored the replies. By supporting it, the CAA is responding to the demands of the industry at the risk of undermining pilot skills.”

Mr Austin acknowledged that modern airliners had become so automated that pilots spent most of their time monitoring systems rather than handling the controls. But he added: “Flying skills might not be required every day but there will be occasions when they are needed.”

A spokesman for the CAA said that it was “supportive of the principle” of reforming pilot training. Trainee pilots now spent most of their time flying light aircraft. “After 20 hours they are just pootling about from place to place not necessarily learning a lot. Flying a light aircraft is nothing like flying an airliner.

“The simulator allows them to practice extreme situations like engine failures and severe turbulence.”

AIR TIME

• According to the rules governing flying hours in Britain, pilots must not exceed 900 hours a year
  
  
• In any seven consecutive days the maximum time in the air is 55 hours
  
  
• In 2003 research from the US suggested that flying for more than ten hours without a break sharply increased a pilot’s chances of a crash or near miss

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