Irish pilots retrain to shake off any 'rustiness' ahead of July reopening 

Aer Lingus captain Simon Croghan, vice-president with the Irish Airline Pilots Association, said there are a whole section of pilots that are not currently flying. When they ramp up, there is a plan to grade their performance before they resume duty. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Irish pilots are undergoing rigorous training ahead of the European aviation sector reopening in a bid to shake off any potential rustiness from being sidelined during the pandemic.

In the US, pilots have reported to NASA's aviation reporting system that they found themselves making errors upon retaking to the skies, such as forgetting to turn on de-icing systems, descending to incorrect altitudes, taxiing into oncoming traffic on the runway, and even overshooting the runway upon landing. 

Anonymous reporting by pilots commonly referred to a lack of retraining before returning to the air.

"I should not have hand flown the approach given my rustiness," one said, with another saying: "I was getting tired due to not being conditioned for constant traffic and lost focus."

There have not been any air accidents in commercial travel since the US industry roared back into life as vaccinations took hold, but a common theme among pilots self-reporting was that the lack of flying time in preceding months had dulled their reaction times and normally fastidious pre-flight checks.

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Irish passengers have nothing to fear, according to Aer Lingus captain Simon Croghan, who said pilots are currently undergoing rigorous retraining and supervision.

Mr Croghan, who is a vice-president with the Irish Airline Pilots Association (IALPA), told the Irish Examiner that the plan was well underway in anticipation of international travel reopening in July.

"There are a whole section of pilots that are not currently flying. When they ramp up, there is a whole plan, which is why there needed to be a lead-in time for the aviation restart. That is to coordinate both simulator and flying for the larger amount of people who haven't flown in a while.

"I check a lot of people in terms of their performance in the airplane, not in the simulator, and we have very rigorous standards. It's a bit like not having spoken in two weeks, but you still know how to speak - a review of that will bring everything back. 

"We have procedures and checklists in the cockpit — it is probably the most disciplined professional environment that there is. We have looked at human factors and how people relate to each other in the cockpit for years and years, and that has fed into procedures and how we deal with things, because it is so important," Mr Croghan said.

It is not by chance that aviation has proved itself to be so safe, Mr Croghan said.

"I am a line standards captain in Aer Lingus, and I would be viewing people on a weekly basis on their performance. I have not seen any appreciable fall off in grades."