Much awaited reforms for flight crew! DGCA explains in detail the new flight duty time – Know the revised norms

Much awaited reforms for flight crew! DGCA explains in detail the new flight duty time – Know the revised norms

In recent developments, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation under the Ministry of Civil Aviation has come up with various reforms to address the concerns of pilot fatigue, according to a release by the Civil Aviation Ministry. The revised Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) for flight crew have been introduced to ensure safe travel and avoid accidents due to fatigue and human errors. These reforms were framed considering the extensive number of pilot rosters and pilot fatigue reports submitted by the airline operators.

Increased weekly rest period for Pilots

Night Duty for cabin crew

The DGCA has amended the definition of night duty, which now covers the period from midnight (0000 hours) to 6 a.m. (0600 hours) in the revised FDTL, from midnight to 0500 hours previously. This allows adequate rest and aligns the night duty period, which includes Window of Circadian Low (WOCL) from 0200 to 0600 hours, i.e., the time when the body clock is lowest in terms of alertness.

Maximum Flight Time, Duty periods and Number of Landings

The revised regulations have restricted the maximum flight time and maximum flight duty period for flight operations at night to 8 hours and 10 hours respectively. The number of landings has also been limited to only two, compared to six permissible landings earlier.

Quarterly fatigue reports for Airline operators

The government has mandated quarterly submission of fatigue reports for pilots and cabin crew, including the Action taken on such reports, to the DGCA to ensure the implementation of the revised FDTL and further improvements with the guidelines.

Setting up of Fatigue Risk Management System

The revised FDTL regulations provide the provision of adoption for a new regime of fatigue management i.e., Fatigue Risk Management System (FRMS). FRMS is a data-driven monitoring and reporting system for flight crew fatigue. The implementation of FRMS would require the collaboration of regulators, flight operators, flight crew, etc.

Implementation of revised FDTL

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation, under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, has directed the airline operators to comply with the revised FDTL norms by June 1 this year.