AIRLINES IN DISREGARD FOR PILOT HEALTH SHOCKER

Surely not – with their reputation? The aviation industry is one of the most high profile, profitable and polluting in the world. It also appears that it may be one of the most stressful and dangerous places to work. While airline companies demand huge government bail outs to support their profitability, the safety of their own pilots seems to be less of a priority. Captain Peter Standing died of a heart attack after an incident aboard his Jumbo Jet in April 2002. The airline he worked for, Virgin Atlantic, subsequently tried to deny that this event had ever happened, just as they have been denying the extent of pilot and cabin crew stress for decades. Captain Standing's widow has been seeking justice from Virgin ever since, and in the process has come up against a culture of indifference – from the companies and also from their regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA).

'The stress he suffered at work had a real impact on him and may have contributed to his heart-attack. He had previously only just undergone his 6-monthly aviation medical – which included an ECG [electro cardiogram] – and no heart abnormality existed prior to this event.'-Christine Standing.

Since their birth, airlines in the UK and elsewhere have been operating with little or no legal framework in matters of safety, and deregulation in the 1970s pushed this process even further. Virgin Atlantic, headed by Richard Branson – the 'acceptable face of capitalism' for some – has been hostile to any moves by pilots to organise to improve their conditions. News that in July 1994 some pilots were in talks with the BALPA union provoked Virgin senior management to a state of fury, according to a Branson biographer. In a similar case in February 2005 , Ryanair have taken legal action against the Irish Airline Pilots' Association in order to stop them organising among Ryanair employees.

Christine Standing, a professional stress therapist and a member of the Aviation Study Group, Linacre College, Oxford, has produced a hundred-page report into pilot stress and the other factors that may have led to the death of Captain Standing. Currently this is being looked at by legal advisors, but Corporate Watch expects to publish more details when procedings allow.

Christine Standing, press briefing, February 2005

House of Lords' Science and Technology Committee, (5 th report, 15/11/00)

'”I'll fold the airline if they join unions”. A handful ignored the threat.' p. 177, Bower, T., Branson, (London, Fourth Estate, 2000)

RTE business news, 'Ryanair takes pilot union to court', February 16, 2005, http://www.rte.ie/business/2005/0216/ryanair.html