66% Of Indian Pilots Surveyed Admit To Dozing Off During Flight

NEW DELHI: A survey by Safety Matters Foundation has found that a majority of pilots working in Indian airline companies have been suffering from 'daytime sleepiness' which is generally triggered by extreme fatigue.

Among the 542 pilots who took part in the survey, 66 per cent said that they have dozed off during their shift hours in the cockpit. The pilots said they had experienced micro-sleep or unintentionally fallen asleep in the cockpit due to fatigue, said the survey.

Fatigue is one of the main reasons attributed to airplane accidents and the study reaffirmed the fact that pilots are not coping well with the pressure that comes with their jobs. With companies looking to work with less than adequate workforces, timings have gone up for most pilots.

The survey was conducted by the non-profit organisation Safety Matters Foundation and it included "Indian pilots flying with regional, domestic, domestic with destinations within four hours flying".

According to the survey, pilots earlier had to fly 30 hours a week but now, they can fly back-to-back once every week. That has resulted in added stress on the workforce resulting in more fatigue.

"Based on their responses, it was found that about 54% of the pilots suffer from severe excessive daytime sleepiness while 41% suffer from moderate daytime sleepiness," the survey explained.

Captain Amit Singh, founder, Safety Matters Foundation said, "Corporate support for implementing and maintaining a safety culture needs to be enhanced. There is a general agreement that adequate manpower and resources are not put into safety.

"The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has not implemented Fatigue risk management systems (FRMS) mandatorily and as such, no rules have been drafted to manage fatigue under FRMS. The prevailing rules are prescriptive and scientific principle on which DGCA has based the regulations for flight and the duty time remain debatable," Capt Singh added.

74% of the pilots attributed back-to-back morning departures as the leading cause of fatigue, according to Capt Amit Singh.

The International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) defines fatigue as a physiological state of reduced mental or physical performance capability resulting from sleep loss or extended wakefulness, or workload that can impair a crew member's alertness and ability to safely operate an aircraft.

Fatigue is a known causal factor in aviation accidents and incidents. It was one of the contributory factors in the 2010 Mangalore crash which killed 158 people. "Residual sleepiness and impaired judgement were believed to have contributed to this accident. The cockpit voice recorder indicated that the Captain had been asleep for 1hr and 40 min of the 2hr and 5 min flight," it said.

Also read: MEA Issues Advisory For Indians In Canada Amid Increasing Hate Crimes

Also watch: