September 27, 2010 - The Allied Pilots Association (APA), certified collective bargaining agent for the 11,000 pilots of American Airlines, lauded the European Commission's approval of a new regulation on the investigation and prevention of accidents.

Among other stipulations, the EC regulation affirms that the sole objective of accident investigation is to prevent future accidents without attributing blame or liability. 

In March 2010, the European Parliament Transport Committee had adopted a position that would inevitably force pilots and other safety professionals to stop cooperating in safety investigations, to protect themselves from judicial prosecution. 

Accident investigations are key drivers for safety improvements, an opportunity to learn from accidents to prevent them from re-occurring. Safety professionals, pilots and air traffic controllers cooperate in such investigations and provide safety testimony. However, the prior proposed Regulation did not protect this testimony from being used in criminal proceedings. This would have prevented the free flow of information. 

"The European Parliament Transport Committee has delivered a strong and unambiguous message, safety and judicial investigations must be strictly independent from each other and sensitive safety information must be fully protected if we want to continue preventing future accidents" said Capt. Martin Chalk, ECA President.