The representation of pilots in a liberalised world, the independence of accident investigations and the definition of the pilots' responsibilities were some of the topics examined by the legal experts of pilot associations worldwide during the annual meeting of the International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations' (IFALPA) Legal Committee, last 5 and 6 October 2009.

Pilots around the world face a large number of challenges: outsourcing, mergers, calculation of pay during vacation, new laws on aviation, etc. Some of these issues are examined at national, European or international levels by specialised committees: safety, human performance, security, etc. The IFALPA Legal Committee looks at all those from a legal perspective, trying to translate the technical or professional concerns into legal arguments defendable before courts or in legislative procedures.

For pilot's Industrial representatives, the way governments are opening aviation to international competition threatens pilots' representation. The Legal group examined the legal developments in this area, such as the need to address the labour consequences of international Air Services Agreements and the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights in the case Enerji vs Turkey, recognising the fundamental right to strike without limits other than those written by law.

The Legal Committee also discussed the need to preserve the independence of technical investigations of accidents from judicial investigations. The Legal Committee concluded that the major obstacle for preserving this separation is a problem of perception. The legislator and the judiciary see the pilots' efforts to preserve the independence of the technical investigation as a question of corporatist protectionism. The key is to understand the aims and the way each investigation is conducted. The judicial investigation must respect the procedural rules and respect the rights of those to be tried in order to obtain the "legal truth" and allocate responsibilities. The technical investigation follows the scientific methods and issues recommendations with the aim to prevent future accidents.

The last "big" issue discussed at the Committee was the definition of the "captain's authority", which is questioned by technical and political developments. Some projects look into allowing some control of airplanes from the ground; also, there have been cases where pilots' decisions to land or disembark passengers have been annulled by the authorities for security reasons. In these cases, it is necessary to know when the authority is transferred from the captain to the local authorities and when the captain ceases to be responsible for the fate of the aircraft, its cargo and its passengers. The members of the IFALPA Legal Committee work on the basis of the existing international treaties, to clearly define all these points.