The day hadn't ended well for Ayesha*, a pilot at one of India's low-cost airlines. Her final flight of the day was delayed by three hours, and embarrassed, she hadn't even waited to say bye to passengers, something that the 26-year-old liked to do. Ayesha was waiting at the tarmac when she was told that her taxi was not coming, and she would have to take the bus along with passengers to the terminal.
Avoiding eye contacts with fliers - lest someone asked her about the delay - Ayesha waited impatiently for the bus to reach the terminal. The flight had landed past midnight, and it was now nearly 1 am. Ayesha just wanted to get back home and crash.
Then her phone rang.
"Report for the 6 am flight," said the manager who handled pilot rostering. Ayesha refused flat out.But he insisted, saying that there was a shortage of pilots. "Please don't make me fly," Ayesha was now pleading. "I have been flying for six days, and it's my off tomorrow. I need to sort things at home," the pilot was almost begging now, unaware of all the eyes in the bus were on her.The manager was unrelenting. Ayesha pleaded, again and again. But it's of no use. She hung up. And as she stepped out of the bus, she heard the dreaded notification on her phone. She was on the 6am flight.This was not the dream job that the junior flight officer had signed up for three years ago.
Miles away, Pratik,* a captain with a major Indian airline, was having problem managing his finances. Yes, he was paid well. Very well, in fact. Captains take home about Rs 8 lakh a month. But it is of little use if the salary is delayed, or is not paid in full.
It had been months since he got a full salary at a time, and that was showing in his bank balance. "I'm now forced to dip into my savings, to pay the EMI on my home loan," he says. He and his family live in Mumbai's Powai, in a posh colony where flats sell for Rs 5 Cr upwards. He declined to say how much the EMI was, but says it runs into lakhs.
Fighting fatigue
World over, crew scheduling is done according to the flight duty time limitation (FDTL) guidelines set down by the respective regulatory authority, which in India is the DGCA.
"The FDTL lays down the daily, monthly, quarterly and yearly limits of flying time. It is set down to prevent fatigue in pilots," says Shakti Lumba, aviation professional and former Executive Director Airline Operations (Alliance Air) and Vice President Ops (IndiGo).
”But in order to maximize resources and cut down on costs airlines tend to fly pilots to regulatory limits
"For a healthy work-life balance, flying 70 hours a month is the ideal. Today this number has increased to about 80-100 hours on an average across most airlines," said the industry executive quoted earlier in the story.
While the airlines benefit as their requirement for additional pilots reduces, most of the pilots fall in line as any flying beyond the limit gets them over-time allowance. "This brings in the greed factor," says the executive.
But greed can't keep fatigue at bay.
Lumba explains: "There is transit fatigue, which takes place when you do a duty. To reduce it,the pilot is given prescribed rest after every flight duty period and additional 24 hrs every seven days. All fatigue cannot get eliminated and accumulates."
Consider a pilot's typical day.
If she or he lives in one of the metros, getting to the airport could take up to two hours and the duty hours start only once the pilot reports. In many of the developed nations, the transportation time is also taken into account. But not in India.The pilot flies to three to five sectors a day, totaling about eight hours of flying time on an average, and a flight duty time of about 11-12 hours a day. Add to this, staying in hotels and dealing with weather (especially in the monsoon/fog season); these factors lead to mental and physical fatigue.
"When you are young, this is fine. As time passes and repetition sets in, this causes chronic mental and physical fatigue, which any pilot starts to feel it after about seven to eight years of flying," says a senior pilot who declined to be identified.
While Lumba recalls days when pilots would get two weeks ‘off’ after every 11 weeks ‘on’. This countered cumulative fatigue and ensure no pilot exceeded the 1000 hrs in 12 month limit. "But now on an average they only get 22 days off in 12 months to increase pilot productivity and has resulted in cumulative fatigue built up and pilots timing out in 10 months," he says.
*Names have been changed to protect identities
Source : Money Control
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