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The Directorate Normal of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday fined Air India Rs 80 lakh for breaches of flight responsibility and fatigue administration laws, together with insufficient relaxation provision for flight crew earlier than and after ultra-long haul flights. This marks not less than the third occasion in lower than two months the place the Tata Group-owned Air India has been penalised by the DGCA.
The most recent penalty coincides with the DGCA’s choice to not lengthen the June 1 deadline for implementing revised flight responsibility norms to supply pilots extra relaxation hours. In January, the regulatory physique carried out a spot audit of Air India to evaluate the airline’s compliance with Flight Obligation Time Limitations (FDTL) and Fatigue Administration System (FMS) laws. The audit concerned the gathering of proof and evaluation of random experiences throughout the fleet.
“The evaluation of experiences and proof revealed that Air India Restricted operated flight(s) with each flight crew aged above 60 years flying collectively in just a few cases,” the regulator mentioned in a launch.
“…the operator was additionally discovered poor in offering ample weekly relaxation, ample relaxation earlier than & after ultra-long vary flights and ample relaxation on layover to the flight crew, which violates the extant provisions of the Civil Aviation Necessities pertaining to FDTL,” DGCA added.
Usually, ultra-long-haul flights are these lasting over 16 hours. Air India operates such flights to locations in Canada and the US. Moreover, the DGCA said on Friday that there have been occurrences of responsibility interval exceedances, inaccurately marked coaching data and overlapping duties. On March 1, the regulatory physique issued a present trigger discover to Air India concerning these violations.
“The operator submitted its response to the present trigger discover, which was not discovered passable. Pursuant to the non-satisfactory response submitted by the operator, a nice of Rs 80,00,000 has been imposed on the operator,” the discharge mentioned.
The presence of each cockpit crew members or pilots aged above 60 years on a flight violates Rule (2) of Rule 28 A of the Plane Guidelines, 1937.
“No individual holding a pilot’s licence issued underneath these guidelines and having attained the age of sixty years shall act as Pilot-in-Command or Co-pilot of an plane engaged in industrial air transport operations except it’s operated in a multi-crew setting and the opposite pilot is lower than sixty years of age,” as per the rule.
Earlier this month, the DGCA determined to not lengthen the June 1 deadline for implementing the revised flight responsibility norms for pilots. The Federation of Indian Airways (FIA), which incorporates Air India, SpiceJet, and IndiGo, had twice written to the regulator requesting extra time to implement the revised Flight Obligation Time Limitations (FDTL) norms issued on January 8. These new norms, scheduled to take impact from June 1, purpose to supply ample relaxation time for pilots and mitigate pilot fatigue.
In a latest communication to the FIA, the DGCA reiterated that airways should take all obligatory measures to implement the revised FDTL CAR ranging from June 1, 2024.
“The CAR (Civil Aviation Requirement) provisions could seem both restrictive or liberal, relying on its direct impression on the viewing entity, and differing perceptions could also be fashioned when considered from the eyes of both the airline operators or the pilots,” the DGCA had mentioned.
“Whereas perceptions could differ, DGCA is primarily involved in making certain protected operations and practices which might be greatest suited to the distinctive working setting prevailing in India,” it added..
Inside a span of lower than two months, the DGCA has levied fines on Air India on three events, together with the latest motion. On February 29, the DGCA imposed a nice of Rs 30 lakh on Air India following an incident wherein an 80-year-old passenger collapsed and subsequently handed away after strolling from the airplane to the terminal on the Mumbai airport as a result of unavailability of a wheelchair. Previous to this, on January 24, the DGCA fined Air India Rs 1.10 crore for security violations associated to the operations of its leased Boeing 777 plane to the US.
Moreover, on January 17, the regulatory physique fined each Air India and SpiceJet Rs 30 lakh every for deficiencies in rostering pilots to function flights throughout low visibility circumstances.
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