Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what assessment he has made of the extent to which airline pilots suffer skill fade as a result of over-reliance on automatic systems and of the implications of this for flight safety.

There is a robust European Certification process in place to ensure that commercial air transport pilots have technical knowledge, competency and training that they need.　 The training is developed collaboratively between industry, manufacturers and regulatory bodies and takes into account technological advances including automation.　 After their initial training, pilots are required to demonstrate periodically that they still have the full set of skills they need to operate equipment safely in a range of circumstances.　 All Flight Examiners and Type Rating Instructors/Examiners work to a common set of standards agreed at a European level.