London, UK - 13 December 2016 (BALPA):  An airline captain and member of the British Airline Pilots’ Association has accepted an apology from an airline after being sanctioned for refusing to fly due to fatigue, as well as assurances that the company remains committed to passenger safety.

Captain Mike Simkins was suspended by Thomas Cook Airlines for six months and threatened with dismissal after refusing to fly his Boeing 767 with over 200 passengers due to being fatigued. Captain Simkins took the case to an Employment Tribunal which unanimously found in his favour and against the airline.

Simkins took the difficult decision not to fly after three extremely early starts in a row, including one 18-hour day, and what would have been a 19-hour day to follow. Thomas Cook’s own fatigue monitoring software showed that because of the run of duties he had done, if he had flown his rostered flight he would have landed at the end of his duty with a predicted performance loss that would have been similar to being four times over the legal alcohol limit for flying.

Dr Rob Hunter, BALPA’s Head of Flight Safety, said. “Not only is it reasonable to refuse to fly when fatigued, it is absolutely necessary. In fact, the law states that a pilot must not operate when fatigued, or likely to become fatigued. Captain Simkins should have been praised by Thomas Cook for reporting his fatigued state as required by law, not disciplined.

“Fatigue is a major threat to flight safety and a good, open safety culture is vital in ensuring that pilots and other staff members feel able to report fatigued and not put lives at stake.”

Brian Strutton, BALPA General Secretary, also commented. He said, “Captain Simkins should be commended for taking this matter up and seeing it through to its conclusion. I am also pleased that BALPA helped fund Captain Simkins’ legal battles, and provided substantial expert and staff support.

“Tackling fatigue remains BALPA’s number one flight safety priority and we will continue to work with airlines to do that where we can, and challenge them using any means necessary when we can’t.”

Please find the judgement here.

This comes a week after a London School of Economics survey revealed that the majority of pilots in Europe believe that fatigue is ‘not taken seriously’ by airlines.

A study of 7,200 pilots across Europe on safety culture, the largest ever conducted, has shown more than half of pilots lack confidence in the safety culture within their airline. In reaction to the study, the British Airline Pilots’ Association said it was ‘not surprised’ by the findings and that fatigue remains top of their members’ concerns across all types of airlines. BALPA is already working with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to improve fatigue reporting, particularly following the introduction of EASA flight time limitations in February this year, which can legally allow a pilot to be rostered for shifts of up to 20 hours. The study also shows that less than 20% agreed their company cares about their well-being.

According to Dr Rob Hunter, BALPA’s Head of Flight Safety:

“Fatigue has been a growing issue among pilots and has only intensified since the introduction of EASA flight time limitations earlier this year. BALPA has been working with all airlines and carriers to improve their fatigue management...Our own survey in collaboration with the CAA previously highlighted similar issues, with pilots not having confidence in their companies’ attitudes towards fatigue or reporting of fatigue."