Follow-up of Germanwings Flight 9525 accident: EASA workshop focuses on the medical fitness of pilots

At a workshop organised in Cologne on 7 and 8 December 2015, the European Aviation Safety Agency presented draft proposals on how to implement the recommendations made in July 2015 by the EASA-led Task Force on the accident of Germanwings Flight 9525.

150 European and world-wide experts representing authorities, airlines, pilot and cabin crew associations, medical experts and representatives of various sectors across the aviation community provided feedback on EASA’s draft proposals and examined the most effective and efficient ways to quickly put them into practice.

Patrick Ky, EASA Executive Director, said: “This dialogue with all the parties involved is essential to further strengthen the European aviation safety system. We need to act quickly if we want to minimise the risk of a catastrophe such as the Germanwings accident to happen again”.

EASA’s proposals covered the following areas:

• The implementation and strengthening of pilot support and reporting systems within the airlines;

• The mandatory carrying out of psychological evaluation for all pilots before entering service;

• The strengthening of the psychological part of the pilots’ recurrent medical assessment;

• The introduction of drugs and alcohol testing for pilots in the context of their initial medical assessment, as well as within a testing programme by the airline;

• The strengthening of the oversight of aero-medical examiners (who perform the pilots’ medical assessment and issue their medical certificate) and the creation of networks to foster peer support;

• The creation of a European repository of pilots’ aero-medical data, to facilitate the sharing of information between Member States, while respecting patient confidentiality.

EASA will now finalise its proposals including the feedback received at the workshop for all of the above areas, and will present a mix of regulatory and non-regulatory proposed measures. These papers will undergo focussed consultation with the affected stakeholders in early 2016 and can be expected to be implemented in the course of 2016, taking into account any new information from the accident investigation by the French “Bureau d’Enquêtes et d’Analyses” (BEA). 

For more information:

• Aircrew Medical Fitness Workshop http://easa.europa.eu/newsroom-and-events/events/aircrew-medical-fitness-workshop (presentations held at the workshop will be made available here)

• EASA Action Plan (October 2015) http://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/air/news/2015-10-20-easa-action-plan_en.htm

• Task Force report (July 2015) http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_IP-15-5392_en.htm