New norms to combat pilot fatigue

In a bid to tackle crew fatigue, the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) now wants proper documentary proof that certain actions mandated by it are taken on each flight.

Henceforth, all flights will have to maintain a log entry of two things: that cabin crew has interacted alternatively with the Commander and co-pilot every half an hour, and that the area speaker has been kept on high volume by the pilot during ‘low activity’ period.

Recognising that pilot fatigue is one of the serious safety hazards and a key factor in accidents, RP Sahi, joint director general, DGCA, has issued a circular making it necessary for all flights to maintain log entries of the above two procedures.

An Air Safety Circular 2 was issued in 2009 which had suggested that cabin crew should interact with pilots at half-hour intervals using intercom, during periods when crew activity is low. This circular had also stated that the pilot should keep area speaker at high volume during such periods.

Sahi said, “In order to ensure that the above actions are taken by the crew during the flight, some documentation is required to be maintained by the operator.

“All the operators henceforth should maintain log entries wherein it is confirmed that the cabin crew had interacted on intercom with the cockpit crew with a gap of not more than 30 minutes.

“Secondly, an entry that the area speaker was kept at high volume during low activity period may be added in the flight report,” Sahi said.