Swiss pilots ordered to stay on the ground

The Embraer 145 is off limits to 34 Swiss pilots (Swiss) RTS

The aviation authorities have ordered the national airline, Swiss, to ground 34 pilots, saying their aptitude tests had been incorrectly administered.

The pilots are prohibited from flying 50-seater Embraer 145 jets because their examiners were found to be lacking the right qualifications.

The Federal Office of Civil Aviation said routine checks of the training provided by Swiss for the plane had shown “a clear violation” of the law governing air transport.

Three examiners contracted by Swiss between March and July to test pilots who wanted to fly the Embraer 145 appeared to lack the appropriate qualifications, the office said.

The Swiss fleet of 133 aircraft includes 25 of the Brazilian-made jets, first introduced in 2000.

Qualifications not valid

The aviation office said that the problem lay in the fact that the examiners were not in a position to test pilots flying the Embraer 145.

“These individuals certainly were qualified instructors and examiners, but their qualifications were not explicitly valid for this type of aircraft,” the office said.

Swiss refutes claim

Swiss told swissinfo that the examiners were indeed qualified but that a simple “communication error” had caused the problem.

“The experts had fulfilled all the requirements to be able to act as an examiner and what happened was that this qualification was not passed on to the aviation office,” spokesman Dominik Werner told swissinfo.

He said that there had likely been an “error in interpretation” of the European rules on pilot training.

The aviation office said that there was no suggestion that “either Swiss or the examiners acted intentionally”, but it noted it was considering legal action against the airline.

The office said it also was investigating whether aptitude tests for other aircraft in the Swiss fleet had been similarly flawed.

More tests

The 34 pilots will not be permitted to fly until they have retaken their examinations. A further 14 other pilots who were renewing their existing Embraer 145 licenses have been allowed to continue flying, but ordered to retake the test within two months.

Swiss said it had reacted immediately, transferring all the barred pilots to different duties, and that all would be retested soon.

It said no flight disruptions were expected and that safety on board the aircraft had not been compromised.

“There are no safety problems because our instructors…are fully qualified to oversee those tests. Also the pilots who passed those tests have fulfilled all the requirements to obtain a licence to fly this aircraft,” Werner said.

Swiss has been beset by a host of problems since its launch earlier this year, and Werner said the company was “doing its best” to iron out any sticky issues.

swissinfo

Key facts

Civil Aviation authority finds Swiss violating law.
Swiss blames problem on “communication error”.
Aviation authority considering legal action.