[Electronic Translation]  The Brazilian civil aviation pilots won a historic victory on Tuesday (11), obtained when the party leaders in the House to ensure the removal of the tariff PL 6716/09, amending the Brazilian Aeronautics Code to allow increased participation of foreign capital in airlines from the current 20% to 49%. With this, the proposal only returns to be assessed in 2013, back in the legislative recess.

The deputy leader of the PP in the House, Rep. Jerome Goergen (PP-RS), articulated with the other leaders to postpone the consideration of the proposal after being told about two items are extremely harmful to the category of airmen and their own flight safety. The alert came through information provided by the Brazilian Civil Aviation Pilots (Abrapac).

The first point foresaw the possibility of extension of working hours for pilots from 12 to 19 hours a day. Besides the overhead labor, changes in the CBA authorized the hiring of foreign pilots to work in Brazilian companies for up to 5 years. Today, the law only allows the hiring of instructors, for a maximum period of six months.

In the evaluation of Jerome, “the two items would promote a true blockbuster in commercial aviation, destroying careers, jobs and families. The vote that point condemn the pilots to a dangerous and unreasonable confinement within a hostile environment that is the cockpit of an airplane, “argued the MP. According to information from the technical manager of the Commission of Human Fatigue Abrapac, commander Paul Licati, “pressurization of the aircraft combined with a permanent state of stress and attention in conducting a high-tech equipment needs to be better understood by society.” According to him, the professional performance for long periods under these conditions leads to a dangerous state of fatigue.

Licati adds that a pilot with eight hours of sleep debt can endanger an entire system. “It is as if he had swallowed the equivalent of ten cans of beer.” Data presented by a major Brazilian airline show that, in 2012, of the 15 reported serious errors, 79% were committed by drivers under fatigue. That is, almost all the stories that could have ended in tragedy happened upon the extreme tiredness of professionals.

Jerome also has heavily criticized the amendment which provided for an extension of time for hiring foreign pilots from the current six months to five years for believing that the initiative is not minimally convincing arguments. “Who can guarantee that a professional has had the same training required by national legislation? And hire a foreigner without the same requirements of the Labor Code, with reduced costs for airlines, which seems to go against the national interests of generating employment and income for our society, “he pondered. The president of Abrapac, Commander Carlos Seixas, questioned the fact that there is no project in the prediction of regulating hiring of skilled foreign workers. “What is the regulatory body that will assess the lack of professional or not?”. Moreover, the leader recalled that the proposal is being made in an atmosphere of crisis, where more than 600 riders lost their jobs in recent weeks.

The deputy leader of the PP said it is not yet vote against the Brazilian Aeronautical Code. “It’s not a bad design. But the text must be in accordance with the reality of our aviation, otherwise reproduce a new Act Truckers, whose effects were suspended by our complete ignorance of the subject. Therefore, the clear legislative year, I think the best way is to deepen the debate on the PL 6716/09, voting the proposal in the first half of 2013 after a careful technical and scientific analysis, “he added Jerome.