From pilots in head-to-toe hazmat suits to maskless flight decks, the iteration of aviation’s operational risk management procedures in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic is already the subject of much analysis — and will be so well into the future. With regulators, public health bodies and professional associations largely now in agreement, and the pandemic entering a new phase, what’s next for this new branch of aviation safety?
To start with, we asked Thibaud Morand, general manager for Europe at LATAM, how airlines have changed their operations to mitigate the risks of COVID-19 transmission among crew, particularly in the flight deck environment.
Within the aircraft, says Morand, “our safety and hygiene strategy has been based on the mandatory use of masks by employees and passengers, reinforcing the cleaning process inside our airplanes, reinforcing the hand washing of our employees, modifying our processes to minimise contact among our crew and passengers, along with making hand sanitiser available at both, the airport and in our aircraft.”
“As the pandemic progresses,” he explains, “we also update our measures, such as the standard of face masks, for example.” Initial use of surgical or fabric masks has, in some areas, been supplanted by masks that are tested to specific standards, like FFP3 or N95.
LATAM, like many airlines, has adapted flight crew procedures to reduce exposure risk, Morand explains. “We have defined, in accordance with the best practices in the industry, that the cockpit be as sterile as possible, that is, we minimise the entry of ground and cabin crew and we ask our pilots to leave only when necessary, such as the periods of rest and use of bathrooms. Likewise, we recommend that our crews take their temperature twice a day.”
The carrier also implements a manual cleaning process, applying a 70% strength alcohol product on all contact surfaces prior to each flight.
Post-flight, too, LATAM provides flight deck and cabin crew arriving from international locations weekly PCR tests, in place of the mandatory quarantines put in place by governments, and has put in place what Morand refers to as a report-and-control protocol system to eliminate symptomatic cases.
Regulators encourage masks, but on the flight deck there are exceptions
In the United States and on US airlines, for example, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s public health order requires face masks to be worn by crew.
While there are inherent infection control benefits to wearing masks, there are also potential risks, particularly in the flight deck where clear communication, emergency equipment and other priorities mean balancing risks is required.
In a safety bulletin [PDF] IFALPA, the International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations, highlights six specific safety risks with masks, including:
- effects on the use of the supplemental oxygen mask
- effects on inter-crew communication including the inability to read lips and non-verbal communication
- effects of air traffic control communication
- possible disturbing effects of wearing a mask during critical phases of flight (e.g., take-off and landing)
- diminished senses (sight or smell)
- possible increase of stress or fatigue
IFALPA recommends mitigation measures including training on correct use of masks and emergency procedures with masks, but overall proposes that “the crew should follow the operator policy of the mask use, but if using the mask is considered a flight safety risk, the crew should have the option not to use it.”
That’s why there are some limited mask exemptions in many of the mandates, particularly on the flight deck, highlighted via the Federal Aviation Administration’s Safety Alert for Operators system. Its Updated Interim Occupational Health and Safety Guidance for Air Carriers and Crews document [PDF] of 5 May 2021 notes that: “Air carriers and crewmembers should be mindful of the regulations regarding the use of oxygen masks where the operation requires an oxygen mask to be rapidly placed on the face, properly secured, sealed, and supplying oxygen upon demand.”
In addition, the FAA recommended, “air carriers should complete a safety risk assessment and provide guidance to their crewmembers on procedures for the use of masks as they may affect the donning of oxygen masks or conducting other safety functions on the flight deck or in the cabin.”
Across the Atlantic, EASA’s COVID-19 Aviation Health Safety Protocol’s Operational guidelines for the management of air passengers and aviation personnel in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic [PDF] emphasises the benefits of vaccination.
EASA advises that “Flight crew members should wear a face mask whenever interacting with, or in the proximity of other persons. Once they are in the flight compartment and the door is closed, flight crew members may remove their masks subject to their operator’s policy. If all flight crew members are vaccinated, wearing a facemask in the flight compartment is not needed. Furthermore, the flight crew members should remove their masks for emergency situations and whenever requested by appropriate authorities for official purposes such as identification or alcohol testing.”
Training the growth of a new branch of aviation safety will be needed
Mark Millam, vice president, technical at the Flight Safety Foundation highlights that the very definition of what flight safety is has changed during COVID — and continues to evolve.
The pandemic has “definitely expanded our breadth of experience to include what we call now biosafety or biosecurity,” says Millam. “A lot of the stakeholders have come together to try to pull together what can be happening during the whole travel experience, so that the journey is as safe as possible. And as we learn more about the transmissions, and where they can happen, we’re getting a little bit more focused in terms of how we practice things like face covering and where social distancing is really going to help.”
Aviation isn’t alone here, of course. “Where we can learn from other industries, we’re always eager to do that,” Millam notes, highlighting growing engagement with health bodies like the World Health Organisation and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in particular.
The FSF’s International Air Safety Summit this September was part of the organisation’s plan to bring together a variety of stakeholders to discuss the current set of operational safety risks. That the summit was virtual, still, highlights the scope of the risk that COVID-19 remains — and also raises questions about what other risks are concealed behind it for aviation to assess and address in turn.
Author: John Walton
Published: 6th January 2022
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