Flight Duty Time Limitations Data is the statistical
information about the flying and duty hours which the pilots and other crew
members of the airplane lock in on a routine basis. This data tells us about
the extent of utilization of the crew and can be analyzed to know whether the
crew is overworked or underworked. While it might be dangerous to fly with the
airline whose crew is overworked, it might not be inefficient to have an
under-worked crew. So, airline tickets
sale might fall for an overworked airplane flight from the customer end but the
carrier might stop flights due to inefficient operations in the second case.
In India, the Director General of Civil Aviation, the
regulatory authority which issues the guidelines on this matter, has directed
the AI pilots and crew members to follow the guidelines related to the six
parameters which define the flight duty time limitations. On doing the mapping
of the guidelines with what is being done at the practical level, it was
noticed that out of the six parameters, the pilots and crew only followed one
of these. Incidentally, this parameter was of Rest Period. The other five
parameters, such as Maximum Daily Flight Duty Period, Maximum Daily Flight
Time, SOD Travel/positioning/dead headings, number of landings and Limitation
of Flying hours on weekly/monthly/annual basis, were under-utilized. By
under-utilization of the working hours, the AI was required to maintain more
staff than the optimal levels. So, the DGCA has now asked the AI to adhere to
these guidelines and attain optimal levels of working hours.
This measure is likely to free up more pilots and crew
members who can be deployed on planes which are likely to arrive in the near
future. The costs of operations will also be brought down and the passengers
would benefit by getting reduced air fare
due to reduced inefficiencies.
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