Sleepy pilot may be flying you

Mumbai: Research has pointed out that cockpit crew fatigue is the major contributory factor for 70% of air crashes and, for the last two days, airlines in India have been flying without any pilot rest rules in place.
"The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) kept the new pilot rest rules, introduced last year, in abeyance two days ago. The old rest rules was scrapped last year and so right now, there are no rules for cockpit crew rest time period in India," said a senior commander.
What it means is that your airline can, without breaking any rules, ask a pilot who landed an aircraft at 11pm to wake-up early and operate another flight at 5am. Last year, in August, India scrapped its decades-old pilot rest rules and introduced a new one that was being followed in countries like the UK, the US and Australia.
The new Flight Duty Time and Flight Time Limitations (FDTL) took into account research done by Nasa and other organisations on circadian rhythms (sleep/wa-ke cycle), reaction of altitude changes on human body, etc. After much effort, the DGCA got all airlines in India to implement it.
Carriers now needed 20% more pilots as they had to give more rest to pilots between flights, give more rest to pilots operating at night, etc.
As of now, the DGCA has constituted a committee - the names of the members has not been made public - to review the new FDTL.
The country's pilots body (of the merged Air India and Jet Airways) has protested the abeyance of the new FDTL.
03/06/08 Manju V/Times of India

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Categories: Safety Jun 2008