The British Airline Pilots’ Association (BALPA) has lodged an appeal [See note 1] against a ruling which short-circuits specialist Air Accident investigation Branch (AAIB) analysis by giving access to flight safety data from the Sumburgh accident to the Lord Advocate.
In explaining BALPA’s decision to appeal, Jim McAuslan, BALPA General Secretary said,
“The 2013 Super Puma accident was tragic, and it is vital the AAIB gets to the root cause and has access to whatever data it needs. However, providing the data to the prosecutor and the police in parallel to the AAIB’s investigation cuts across everything pilots and the broader flight safety community stand for. We cannot stand by while the court allows that to happen without pursuing other legal avenues to highlight our concerns and question whether it is the correct approach.”
“There is a broader issue of public interest at stake here. Pilots are concerned the open safety culture it has taken decades to create, would be threatened if safety data is used to assign blame without air accident investigation specialists being given the time, space and resources to carry out their work fully. While the judge recognised he had a balancing act to perform, and that flight safety was important, we are not convinced he got the balance right in this case. [See note 2]
“Sumburgh was one of a series of helicopter accidents in Scotland. BALPA has pressed for a public enquiry in to why this is so. Today we renew our call to the Scottish government, asking them to give political leadership and rekindle the transparency which Lord Cullen brought to the industry after Piper Alpha.”
NOTES
- BALPA’s lawyers are preparing an “application to reclaim” to the Inner House.
- The balancing exercise undertaken by the Judge has to give due weight to the Chicago convention as required by EU Regulation because there are a number of different public interests that come into play such as preventing future accidents.
