Ryanair pilot felt flight day too long

A FORMER Ryanair captain who refused to complete a day’s schedule of flights was concerned about the legality of his flying hours, the Employment Appeals Tribunal in Dublin heard yesterday.

Danish pilot Paul Christiansen, who was demoted to first officer, claims he was unfairly dismissed following his refusal to complete a schedule of flights because of his belief his 12-hour flying limit might be exceeded. Ryanair has rejected his claim and said he was dismissed due to “gross misconduct”.

On October 30th, 2007, Mr Christiansen was due to work a four-leg series of flights, starting at Skavsta, Sweden, continuing to Paris Beauvais, returning to Skavsta, on to Basle and returning to Skavsta. However, after failing to resolve concerns with his base captain, Mr Christiansen stood himself down at Skavsta and informed Ryanair he was sick.

The tribunal heard that Mr Christiansen had sought clarification from his base captain in Skavsta over “captain’s discretion” on the time permissible for a crew to continue working up to two hours over the daily limit of 12 hours.

Darrell Hughes, deputy director of personnel at Ryanair, said the scheduled flights would have taken about 11 hours and 35 minutes, and that Mr Christiansen had informed Ryanair of his decision only shortly before take-off at Skavsta, leading to disruption for 636 passengers. He said the captain had told the company he had been suffering from stress.

Michael Landers, for Mr Christiansen, said his client had concerns over that discretion to complete a sequence of flights as his flight roster for October 30th was approaching 12 hours.

Mr Landers said the pilot was attempting to resolve a “lack of clarity” over the issue. “He perceived a clash between what Ryanair expected . . . and what the IAA expected.” Mr Landers said Ryanair had failed to clarify if it would have been legal for Mr Christiansen to fly the fourth leg home from Basle to Skavsta.

“An airline pilot always has to act conservatively in such a case . . . when he has some doubt, he should resolve that doubt in favour of not operating,” Mr Landers said.

When clarification was sought by tribunal chairman James Flanagan on what constituted being sick, Mr Landers said that in the pilot community this could mean a pilot being under stress or a belief that it would not be legal to fly.

Martin Hayden, for Ryanair, said the carrier’s flight time limitations had been submitted to the IAA and had been approved. He said the captain should have made the decision at a later stage if necessary, and that Ryanair had procedures to deal with pilot concerns about work hours, such as providing accommodation and crew transfers. The hearing continues.