Incident reporting

European Pilots Praise New Incident Reporting Plan
The European Cockpit Association (ECA) praised as “a strong commitment to safety” last week’s decision by the European Parliament and its transport committee to develop a new incident-reporting system. The airline pilot’s union said the new legislation ensures a “just culture” with better protection of the safety incident data, the reporter and all the people involved, while also creating a comprehensive framework for collecting, storing and analyzing relevant safety incident data. The ECA acknowledged in a statement that the European Parliament clearly understands that the primary objective is not to apportion blame or liability but to improve the safety of Europe’s travelling public. “This regulation will provide the tools for controllers and pilots to report–in line with our professional commitment to safety–honest mistakes or mishaps in an open, no-blame environment,” commented ECA president Nico Voorbach. However, European officials have yet to announce an implementation date for the new reporting system.