Quo Vadis, EASA?

Finally, after weeks of radio silence, EASA has published a?Safety Information Bulletin?to address the current chaotic situation in European air travel.

After a first read, I must say I am a little disappointed, as it is rather on the light side and looks like a box-ticking exercise to be seen as “doing something”.

While the SIB does include some stuff on crew fatigue, it falls short on many other issues…

Where the UK CAA addresses the issue of commercial pressures, real or perceived, on the operation in a dedicated bulletin, EASA is not even specifically mentioning them in their “Occurrence Reporting and Risk Assessment” part of the SIB!

Addressing the real issues that front line staff face, whether fatigue or stresses, pressures, and workload, and using a clear language to pinpoint them, would have gone a long way to build some trust and build credibility with these same frontline staff.

EASA seems to approach the issue and safety in general from a purely administrative point of view, all veiled in rather general and, frankly, meaningless language.

The agency elegantly tiptoes around the many relevant safety issues and to many, this may confirm the view of EASA as somewhat aloof and distant from the (sometimes harsh) realities of everyday flight operations.

It’s a pity, as I know from working with EASA, that there are many dedicated and competent people working at the agency that understand safety differently as to what the SIB reflects.

This SIB is not worthy of them.

EASA can and must do better…