Mumbai: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued orders asking airlines to adhere in totality to the duty time and rest period norms stipulated for pilots. The order comes in the wake of a ruling by the Delhi high court which last month rapped the DGCA for granting exemptions to airlines so that they could roster pilots beyond the maximum duty time laid down in the work/rest norms followed in India.
To keep fatigue under check and ensure air safety, aviation regulators the world over formulate rules that govern the maximum duty time and minimum rest period to be granted to pilots. Called Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL), it's a complex matrix of duty period and rest arrived at by considering various factors like the workload, the number of take-offs and landings permissible in a duty period, the flight operations carried out during window of circadian low (2am to 6am), time zones crossed, home base of the crew etc.
In India however, following requests from airlines, the regulator had itself granted variations and exemptions that allowed airlines to roster pilots beyond the limits set by the FDTL. On April 18, in response to a petition filed by advocate Yeshwant Shenoy on FDTL violations, pilot fatigue and its impact on flight safety, the Delhi high court had ruled that no exemptions or variations should be granted to the FDTL norms.
“Despite the HC order, DGCA did not follow it up with an instruction to airlines and so the FDTL norms continue to be violated. This week, I sent a notice to the DGCA stating that if it did not come out with a direction to airlines before Friday, I would file a contempt case against it in the Delhi high court,” Shenoy told TOI.
05/05/18 Manju V/Times of India
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To keep fatigue under check and ensure air safety, aviation regulators the world over formulate rules that govern the maximum duty time and minimum rest period to be granted to pilots. Called Flight Duty Time Limitation (FDTL), it's a complex matrix of duty period and rest arrived at by considering various factors like the workload, the number of take-offs and landings permissible in a duty period, the flight operations carried out during window of circadian low (2am to 6am), time zones crossed, home base of the crew etc.
In India however, following requests from airlines, the regulator had itself granted variations and exemptions that allowed airlines to roster pilots beyond the limits set by the FDTL. On April 18, in response to a petition filed by advocate Yeshwant Shenoy on FDTL violations, pilot fatigue and its impact on flight safety, the Delhi high court had ruled that no exemptions or variations should be granted to the FDTL norms.
“Despite the HC order, DGCA did not follow it up with an instruction to airlines and so the FDTL norms continue to be violated. This week, I sent a notice to the DGCA stating that if it did not come out with a direction to airlines before Friday, I would file a contempt case against it in the Delhi high court,” Shenoy told TOI.
05/05/18 Manju V/Times of India
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