BackDGCA questions working hours in Jet-Air India incident
A Jet Airways bus driver dozed off, lost control on the wheel and slammed into a stationary Air India aircraft at Kolkata airport in December
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New Delhi: The aviation regulator has asked Jet Airways Ltd to look into the duty timings of its bus drivers ferrying crew and passengers after one of its buses slammed into a stationary Air India aircraft.
The Air India ATR aircraft at the Kolkata airport used for regional services was damaged beyond repair in the incident in December.
“The driver was rostered for continuous night duties for several successive nights and subsequent morning shifts a couple of times," Sanit Kumar, deputy director of air safety in Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in his accident investigation report on Monday.
While the driver wasn’t drunk or fatigued, Kumar said he fell asleep while ferrying two Jet Airways crew members to an aircraft.
“While he was driving close to Bay no. 32, during negotiating a turn, he dozed off, lost control on the wheel and deviated from vehicular lane. Before he could realise he had impacted the aircraft parked in Bay 32," Kumar noted in the report.
DGCA has asked the aerodrome operator to include this incident as a case study and brief applicants seeking airside driving permits going forward.
The Air India aircraft ATR 42-320 registered as VT-ABO and leased from Ireland-based ABRIC Leasing Ltd has been written off by the airline. Air India has sought compensation from Jet Airways. Insurance companies are looking into the matter.
An industry official said there was an even bigger danger lurking: pilot fatigue.
“It’s strange that DGCA is alive to the contribution driver fatigue has on ‘safety of ground operations’ but is totally ignoring the contribution pilot fatigue has to the “safety of aircraft operations"," said Shakti Lumba, former vice-president of operations at IndiGo.
“Will it take an aircraft accident for the DGCA to wake up & revise the FDTL (flight duty time limitations) of aircrew and ensure compliance by operators?"
The present FDTL addresses the commercial requirements of air operators more than it does pilot fatigue, he said.
“The FDTL should address both transient and cumulative pilot fatigue and sleep deprivation so detrimental to flight safety, which it isn’t."
FDTL are guidelines governing the aspects such as the maximum daily flight duty period including flying hours limitations, rest period, staff-on-duty travel and number of landings allowed per pilot as well as the crew.
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