Thomas Cook apologises to pilot who was too tired to fly
Thomas Cook Airines has apologised to one of its pilots who was suspended for refusing to fly while fatigued after a tribunal found in his favour.
Captain Mike Simkins told the employment tribunal earlier this year that he opted not to fly a Boeing 767 with over 200 passengers after three ‘extremely early starts in a row’, including one 18-hour day and what would have been a 19-hour day to follow.
He was suspended for six moths and threatened with dismissal, even though he claimed Thomas Cook’s own ‘fatigue monitoring software’ showed that because of the run of duties he had done, if he had flown his rostered flight, he would have landed with a predicted performance loss that would have been similar to being four times over the legal alcohol limit for flying.
The employment tribunal found unanimously in Simkins’ favour.
In a statement, Thomas Cook Airlines said: "Safety is our highest priority at Thomas Cook. We have robust processes to ensure all the legal limits on flying time are met and we’d like to be clear that at no point was Captain Simkins expected to fly while fatigued.
"However there was a disagreement between him and his managers about his conduct which led to~the tribunal proceedings. We have accepted the findings and apologised to him for the hurt and distress that was caused."
Dr Rob Hunter, head of flight safety at the British Airline Pilot’s Association, said: "Not only is it reasonable to refuse to fly when fatigued, it is absolutely necessary. In fact, the law states that a pilot must not operate when fatigued, or likely to become fatigued. Captain Simkins should have been praised by Thomas Cook for reporting his fatigued state as required by law, not disciplined.
"Fatigue is a major threat to flight safety and a good, open safety culture is vital in ensuring that pilots and other staff members feel able to report fatigued and not put lives at stake."
BALPA general secretary Brian Strutton added: "Captain Simkins should be commended for taking this matter up and seeing it through to its conclusion.
"I am also pleased that BALPA helped fund Captain Simkins’ legal battles, and provided substantial expert and staff support.
"Tackling fatigue remains BALPA’s number one flight safety priority and we will continue to work with airlines to do that where we can, and challenge them using any means necessary when we can’t."
Simkins has accepted Thomas Cook’s apology.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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