"My name is Stephen Colman. I am a former contract pilot for Norwegian Air Shuttle, and Norwegian Long Haul. My declaration identifies the significant problems and regulatory failures I faced when attempting to seek redress from multiple European countries’ regulators for adverse employment actions taken against me because of my safety reporting. I cannot conceive how the business model to which I was subjected could be consistent with the spirit and intent of Article 17 bis of the U.S-EU Air Transport Agreement."
"Pilot quote from the report:
“I worked for a low-cost airline and it was horrible. Something has to be done in terms of legislation. People dare not to call in sick, could be fired within a moment's notice, and management uses subtle threats to push things through. Terrible working conditions, low pay and zero-hour contracts. For cabin crew, the situation was even worse.”
Pilot quote from the report:
“After thirty years of flying, I have noticed that aviation is not what it used to be. I can not recommend anyone to become a pilot, unless you can get a job with a national airline. Aviation managers violate the law and expect the same of young pilots. As a pilot in Europe you have no job security, no home base for your family and in certain EU member states you are exploited by low-cost airlines. It's an endless race to the bottom that will require its toll sooner or later. Strong demotivation, fatigue, less training and pushing boundaries are many methods used to reduce costs and to pay bonuses to managers. If pilots wouldn't love flying so much, the current working conditions mean there would be no more planes taking off.”
The ECA research makes abundantly clear that bogus self-employment in aviation is more than the avoidance of social security and taxes: the sector's safety is at risk.
ECA = European Cockpit Agency. Men om du føler at et samlet pilotkorps i Europa (ECA representerer ~38,000 piloter i Europa) ikke har snøring på hva de snakker om, og du har bedre koll på aviation safety enn de, så... Ja ja.