The Union government is currently engaged in the meticulous revision of the flight duty time limitations (FDTL) applicable to airline personnel. This undertaking is a direct consequence of a prior modification to the FDTL that was scheduled to be implemented on June 1 of the current year but was rescinded in response to concerns raised by the industry.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is undertaking a comprehensive reassessment of the Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL), taking into account insights from industry professionals regarding crew fatigue and its potential ramifications for flight safety.
An anonymous official disclosed, “The DGCA is re-examining the duty time limitations to facilitate greater flexibility in scheduling for pilots while ensuring that the industry is capable of effectively executing these adjustments.”
This initiative aspires to establish a more equitable framework that serves the interests of both crew members and airlines, as stated by two officials who are well-informed about the situation.
The draft FDTL introduced in January of the current year was deemed impractical for industry implementation following an extensive evaluation that uncovered considerable obstacles.
What The DGCA Draft Articulates
The draft has posited that a pilot operating during nocturnal hours should adhere to a maximum flight duty period of 10 hours, as opposed to the current standard of 13 hours. Furthermore, the draft aspires to augment the minimum weekly rest interval to 48 hours, an increase from the prevailing 36 hours. The existing Flight Duty Time Limit (FDTL) regulations do not make distinctions between nocturnal and diurnal flights, permitting pilots to be assigned to duty for a cumulative 13 hours within a 24-hour timeframe. Envision undertaking a flight for 13 hours! The implementation of these initiatives, which is currently open for public discourse among pertinent stakeholders, will create a void in the operational schedules of airlines, necessitating the recruitment of additional pilots to address this gap.
The DGCA draft mandates that airlines utilize fatigue reports as an instrument to mitigate crew fatigue and instructs each airline to formulate a definitive policy regarding the management of fatigue reports. The DGCA has stipulated that the policy must encompass not only the procedures for “how to submit” a report but also delineate “what actions to take” in the event of a fatigue report. The accountability for the oversight of fatigue management shall be explicitly delineated by the airlines.
Additional guidelines delineated in the FDTL draft encompass the requirement for airlines to retain all fatigue reports and subsequent action reports for a minimum duration of six months, which must be made accessible to the DGCA upon request. It also obligates the head of operations to furnish a quarterly report encompassing fatigue and action taken reports.
Aviation specialist Captain Shakti Lumba commented on the matter, suggesting that the DGCA has altered its stance, favoring the commercial interests of operators at the expense of flight safety and public welfare.
Recently, Air India, a subsidiary of Tata Group, has amended its fatigue monitoring protocol. The airline, which has instituted a dedicated committee to evaluate fatigue-related reports submitted by pilots and cabin crew, has mandated that all fatigue incidents be recorded in the system. These records will subsequently be scrutinized by the airline’s medical and flight operations divisions.
The newly proposed regulations have redefined the parameters of night duty for pilots, instituting more rigorous restrictions on the number of landings permitted when a pilot’s shift commences or persists into the night. The limit on landings during nocturnal operations has been reduced from six to two.
As per a third official, the government’s aim is to enact a new Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS) that employs a data-driven approach to enhance the supervision of flight crew fatigue.
Airlines have indicated that this alteration will likely necessitate the recruitment of additional personnel to comply with the newly established requirements.
They argue that the amended regulations, which have extended a pilot’s weekly rest period from 36 to 48 hours, will demand approximately 20% more pilots. This modification is anticipated to increase their operational costs and disrupt their flight schedules.
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