Leaving busy sections of Australian airspace uncontrolled may threaten safety and should not be happening, the Australian and International Pilots Association has warned.
Today it was reported that areas of regional airspace normally overseen by traffic controllers have been left uncontrolled 340 times since June due to staffing shortages.
When this happens pilots are forced to 'self-separate', meaning they take on responsibility for checking each other's locations to avoid collisions.
AIPA president and Qantas pilot Tony Lucas said this increases pilots' workloads and poses a safety risk.
"It increases our operational complexity and workload because we are now trying to separate ourselves from other aircraft, potentially impacting safety," he said.
"These sorts of events should not be happening frequently and certainly not due to resourcing issues.
"Leaving airspace uncontrolled should only happen in near-emergency situations, such as a fire in an air traffic control centre, for a very short period of time.
"We need to build more resilience into the system to make sure these events are not happening on a regular basis."
