Aedrian Bekker’s research while affiliated with WWF United Kingdom and other places

In July 2018, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (2018) issued Regulation (EU) 2018/1042, now (EU) 2020/745, which required all commercial air transport operators to implement a support program by February 14, 2021. This was initially aimed at pilots and formed part of the recommendations made after the pilot murder-suicide crash of Germanwings flight 9525 in March 2015. Pilot peer support is now considered vital in supporting crew well-being and in promoting aviation safety, alongside other initiatives (Federal Aviation Administration, 2024). To date, there has been scant published literature on the provision of pilot peer support beyond the rationale for its inception. This In Practice paper offers guidance for a competency-based framework for training and benchmarking pilot peers and draws on the familiar framework to pilots of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) pilot competencies (ICAO, 2013). This conceptualization of peer competencies offers a framework for pilot peers in the acquisition of core peer support skills, and for those training pilot peers, a yardstick by which skills acquisition can be assessed.

It is widely accepted that that during the Covid-19 pandemic, it is important to maintain international air routes not only for essential travel, but also for the transportation of cargo and medical and non-medical supplies. Modified regulations have been put in place for air crew during the pandemic for quarantine when travelling across borders. Quarantine is used for individuals who may have been exposed to the infective disease whereas isolation is of specific use in cases where an individual is infected with the disease. There is currently no international agreement or guidance, however, about how quarantine measures are carried out for airline crews such. This pertains to, for example, accommodation conditions and standards, opportunities for communication and exercise facilities if quarantine is required locally during a lay-over. Anecdotal stories of air crew being housed in isolation in sub-optimum physical and mental health conditions, at some destinations, gives rise to concerns about their wellbeing and fitness to fly in some limited cases.