A new policy by Air India where a committee of the airline will examine fatigue calls by pilots and cabin crew has raised a debate if this would discourage self-reporting when pilots are tired due to fear of retribution.However, a senior airline executive who manages flight operations said that such a system is necessary to prevent abuse of no-question-asked fatigue policy. It helps differentiate a genuine issue of fatigue caused by the airline’s operations versus those due to personal reasons, the executive said.The Tata-owned airline in a new policy on Friday said that all fatigue reports by pilots will be marked as fatigue in the system. However, the reports will be further reviewed by a department of flight operations, cabin crew data and medical department of the airline.“ After further review by the department, in case of unsubstantiated reporting, fatigue will be replaced as sick on crew portal,” the new memo sent to crew and reviewed by ET said.The policy is similar to market leader IndiGo where all fatigue reports are marked as sick. The reports are then evaluated by a team of flight operations and if they are found to be genuine, the sick leaves are credited back at a later stage.Sources said that there was a substantial increase in fatigue reports at Air India over the last few months, many of which were found to be caused by personal problems rather than due to the organisation.“ Our new fatigue protocol is a positive step in preventing fatigue and is followed by leading airlines globally. It is compliant with the regulations and is non-punitive. We will continue to use scientific tools such as Jeppesen and Boeing Alertness Model to protect our crew from potentially fatiguing rosters,” an Air India spokesperson said.“A no-question-asked fatigue policy when abused lead to genuine cases getting overlooked and the scope to reverse the system. For instance, if there are multiple reports about a single flight schedule, the system alerts the airline and that schedule is changed,” an airline official said.The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) – an agency of the United Nations to regulate aviation safety encourages self-reporting of fatigue by crew. “Fatigue reports should be analysed regularly by the airline and feedback provided as appropriate to individuals and groups about any actions taken, or why no action was considered necessary,” a report by the ICAO says.Many senior crew said that if the airline transparently analyses the data, then it can lead to forming a fatigue risk management policy where the airline can adopt policies and eliminate flight patterns for crew which fatigue are inducing.For instance, Air India Express- the no frills segment of Air India is now giving overnight rest to pilots on multiple late night flights to Gulf against a quick turnaround where the same set of crew operated the next flight.However, Air India pilots in the past have complained to the management that extended waiting period before a flight at airports without proper rest facilities is causing fatigue among pilots.“Many a times when I reach hotel after completing a flight, my room is not prepared and I have to wait at the lobby for an hour. That leads to fatigue but will the committee count that as one or mark it as my personal problem,” an Air India pilot said.Experts said that the success of such policies depend on if civil aviation regulator DGCA is closely involved. “Without a pilot representative, whoever substantiates the fatigue report is likely to be biased. DGCA says that they don’t have data on fatigue,” Amit Singh of Safety Matters Foundation.DGCA hasn’t yet set a date to implement the new rest rules for pilots which among multiple other changes mandated that airlines should submit fatigue reports to the regulator every quarter. DGCA had put the new rules in indefinite abeyance due to severe resistance from airlines saying that the rules will force them to cancel 20 percent flights at peak of summer travel season.
Published On Sep 30, 2024 at 09:00 PM IST
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