HC reserves judgement on pilots' duty hours

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court on Tuesday said it would pronounce the judgement on petition filed by pilots' associations regarding duty-hour rules on August 14.
The petition, filed by pilots associations of Jet, Air India and Indian Airlines, opposes Director General of Civil Aviation's decision to keep its newly framed rules regarding duty hours of pilots in abeyance.
The rules, called Civil Aviation Requirements (CAR) limit the pilot's duty hours. These rules replace the old ones, which were framed in 1992.
After bringing in new rules, DGCA received complaints from airlines, so it decided to put them on hold, and formed a new committee to amend them.
Meanwhile, DGCA said, the 1992 rules would prevail.
But pilots' associations claim that the 2007 rules were shunned because they lessened duty hours and airlines would have required to hire more pilots.
DGCA says that it has a right to amend the rules or keep them in abeyance, and the 1992 rules were in operation for 15 years, so they can not be said to be causing much hardship to pilots now.
13/08/08 Expressindia.com

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Categories: Careers Aug 2008, NACIL Aug 2008, Safety Aug 2008