We know the immediate effects of fatigue have the potential to compromise flight safety, but what effect can chronic fatigue have on your mental and physical well-being in the long term?

Since 2014 there have been almost 6,500 police reports nationally involving laser pens. It is an issue that presents an everyday danger to airline pilots, so much so that the crew of one Virgin Atlantic flight took the decision to return to Heathrow after reportedly being attacked with a laser.  It was not an isolated incident. More than half of British pilots say they have been attacked by lasers in the past year.

On Sunday afternoon a British Airways pilot reported that an object, thought to be a drone, had collided with the aircraft as it came in to land at Heathrow. Since then I have been racing around London to various media interviews to reinforce the message BALPA has been saying for a while now: drones pose a serious potential threat to flight safety.

Becoming a pilot is a dream harboured from a young age. Boys and girls look to the sky and resolve that, one day, they will be at the controls of that plane. It’s a calling, and the British Airline Pilots’ Association’s aim is to ensure it remains a great profession.

The past year has been a difficult one for our colleagues based in the North Sea. The fall in oil prices saw oil and gas companies make drastic attempts to cut costs, and nearly a quarter of jobs in Bristow, CHC and Bond Helicopters faced redundancy.