The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has responded strongly to comments made by the UK’s Flight Safety Committee, who suggested pressure to keep costs low had impacted how pilots were trained.
Reported by The Express, CAA commented that pilots across the globe were put through “extensive training” and are “regularly checked and tested”.
Head of the UK’s Flight Safety Committee, Dai Whittingham, had previously claimed “shareholders are squeezing airlines hard on costs”, and therefore had “less desire to provide training”.
“Spending on training fleets of captains and first officers is not necessarily welcome.”
He added of airline manufacturers: “They don’t want to sell aircraft that will incur a big training bill for the airline, it is in their interests to keep costs down.”
The trade group encompasses a wide spectrum of members from manufacturers, safety regulars as well as major airlines.
Dai stated to the broadcaster that should airline staff want more training, they needed to “argue” with finance teams to get the green light.
A spokesperson for the UK CAA, said to Express.co.uk: “Safety is our number one priority and the UK has one of the world’s safest aviation industries.
“Commercial pilots undergo extensive training and testing and once qualified continue to be regularly checked and tested.
“The requirements and standards for pilot training are set on a Europe-wide basis by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
“These exceed international requirements.”
The debate surfaced after a series of airplane crashes of late.
