Regulator mulls fewer flying hours for pilots

Mumbai: Several hundred foreign pilots and a large number of unemployed Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) holders could soon find jobs in Indian airlines if the country's civil aviation regulator has its way to reduce the daily flying hours of commercial pilots to allow them more rest.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has recently issued a circular in the form of a Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) seeking feedback from airlines to cut the maximum daily flying and duty hours of pilots from 10 to eight hours in the domestic sector and also lower the number of flying hours in the international sector.
The regulator believes that such a move would address the problem of pilot fatigue and is in the best interest of aviation safety. But experts disagree. According to them such a move, along with the ongoing probe on fake pilot certificate issue, would create a severe shortage of pilots in India forcing airlines to hire foreign pilots, more specifically captains.
"I expect 20 per cent shortage of pilots in India on both these grounds and over 600 foreign pilots would be hired by India's airlines as captains are in short supply. We don't have surplus captains in India and the flight duty time limit (FDTL) issue would affect the captains rather than first officers (co-pilots)," said Captain Yash Tongia, chief flight instructor, Yash Air, a flying school.
08/04/11 Lalatendu Mishra/India Today

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Apr 2011