IT WAS GOOD to find 快猫短视频 swinging the spotlight onto
fatigue in airline pilots and air traffic controllers
(2 December 2000, p 21).
This area is largely ignored, despite the very real need to observe levels of
tiredness in pilots and controllers so they can rest periodically while their
deputies take over the controls.
The article described a system devised by the Electronic Navigation Research
Institute near Tokyo to analyse voice patterns for signs of fatigue. I was
impressed that it could detect tiredness in test subjects between 10 and 20
minutes before they noticed it themselves. I asked Chris Mullin, the junior
minister for aviation at the Department of the Environment, Transport and the
Regions, if his department was looking at airline pilot drowsiness, and whether
he knew of the Japanese system.
Mullin said yes, both the DETR and the Civil Aviation Authority knew of the
Japanese system. They consider the theory on which the system is based, however,
to be in need of testing on real pilots and air traffic controllers.
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Mullin went on to say that at present the Air Navigation Order 2000 requires
the operator of any aircraft to establish a scheme for the regulation of flight
and duty times of crews. This scheme must be CAA approved and included in the
aviation company鈥檚 operations manual. The order also requires that a crew member
shall not fly if they feel exhausted to the point where this might endanger the
safety of the aircraft or its occupants. Given the well-publicised needs of
airlines to cut costs, the CAA鈥檚 approach is reassuring.
BRITAIN鈥橲 coastal habitats are vanishing at a frightening rate. The
implications are drastic for sea defences and for the people who depend on the
coasts for their livelihoods, as well as some of the country鈥檚 most valuable
wildlife conservation areas.
In a recent parliamentary debate on the problem, Bob Blizzard, who represents
Waveney and much of the East Anglian coastline, said that most of the coastal
areas of eastern England are designated as internationally important wildlife
sites. They include areas given special protection under the European Union鈥檚
Conservation of Wild Birds directive and areas that are candidates for
conservation under the EU鈥檚 Natural Habitats and Species directive, as well as
internationally important wetlands designated under the Ramsar Convention. Such
designations carry obligations, one of which is to maintain the overall
coherence of Natura 2000鈥攖he EU-wide ecological network of special areas
of conservation.
Mullin replied鈥攖his time wearing one of his other hats as junior DETR
minister with responsibilities for water and coastal policy. He said that the
government is considering management plans to establish how best to reconcile
coastal changes with our obligations to protect important habitats. English
Nature and the Environment Agency are putting these plans into action, although
other departments with legal or funding responsibilities in these areas are also
partners in the effort. 鈥淲e have been heartened by the support given by
commercial and conservation interests,鈥� he added. Six pilot management plans are
being undertaken and are due for completion in 2001. These include the Dungeness
region and north Kent estuaries and marshes, said the minister.
I gather that English Nature鈥檚 plans specifically address the potential for
offsetting habitats when the loss of protected areas is inevitable. I can鈥檛 help
but think that we shall also need to take into account issues such as the
protection of coastal towns and villages from erosion and flooding, and human
health and safety. With global warming, pollution and erosion to contend with,
people and wildlife living on the coast need help.