DGCA’s whip on Uttarakhand operators: Suspends Kestrel Aviation ops after copter crash lands, to conduct live monitoring

A letter written by Jet Airway’s Society for Welfare of Indian Pilots complains that the new limits for pilots flight time are set at 10 hours (compared to US’s 8) and the Director of Operations can extend that time an hour and a half. The letter points out that the committee selectively adopted from various schemes/studies whatever limits that suited them, extending the time well beyond what would be considered safe.

In the US, the maximum time pilots can be scheduled to fly is limited to eight or nine hours. US Pilots must get a minimum of 10 hours to rest between duty periods, a two-hour increase over the old rules; and pilots who fly overnight are allocated fewer hours than day flying pilots. In the US, these rules are based on the science of human biology.

The changes in US fatigue rules are aimed at preventing airline pilots from flying while dangerously fatigued. Notably, by comparison, the maximum hours of work prescribed for Indian pilots is about 25% more. The Nasim Zaidi Committee rules either completely disregarded the science, and furthermore, incorrectly defineterms pertaining to night-time operations, further opening up the pilots to further exploitation.