The Airline Pilots’ Association of India (ALPA-India) has expressed disapproval at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) decision to allow the flight duty period or FDP for two-pilot Boeing 787 operations to be increased by one hour, from 13 to 14 hours. The maximum flight time has also been increased from 10 to 10.5 hours. ‘Is the DGCA giving more importance to the convenience of flight operators than to flight safety?’, is the question that the pilots associations are now asking.
This permission, as per pilots’ associations, puts the safety of the pilots and those on board at risk. The DGCA, which is the country’s aviation regulator, has permitted flight duty hours to be increased for select Boeing 787 Dreamliner routes, inviting widespread criticism from pilots and their associations.
The associations point out that the extension affects the quality of rest that the crew gets.
It is pertinent to clarify here that FDP refers to the total duration of a crew member’s duty hours during which he operates an aircraft, starting from the time he reports for work and ending with the time the flight’s engines are switched off after it is brought to a halt after the last flight.
This extension of FDP is reportedly applicable to various international routes, including Delhi-Copenhagen, Delhi-Milan, Delhi-France (two flights), Ahmedabad-London Gatwick, London Gatwick-Amritsar, Delhi-Zurich, and Birmingham-Amritsar.
The pilots’ associations, however, feel that such an extension will only increase the chances of errors or accidents caused by fatigue and exhaustion, and that the order violates safety practices.