European Cockpit Association


The European Cockpit Association is an organization that represents European pilots. Founded in 1991, it works to improve European policies in all areas of aviation that affect pilots, such as safety, pilot licensing, air operations, fair competition, international air traffic agreements, air traffic management and employment conditions. ECA currently represents over 40,000 European pilots from the National Pilot Associations in 36 European states. The ECA headquarters are located in the City of Brussels.

History

In January 2003, the ECA carried out a public protest against flight-time limitations drafted by the European Union, with concerns that some of the proposed duty periods may have been too long and could cause pilot fatigue. In 2012, the ECA published a study on pilot fatigue, finding that four in ten pilots had fallen asleep in the cockpit. In January of the same year, together with the European Transport Workers' Federation, the ECA organised an EU-wide demonstration against the new flight-time rules proposed by the European Aviation Safety Agency.