No time to rest for pilots on duty
Desperate to minimise cancellations and avoid inconvenience to passengers, the airline is making the most of pilots willing to fly.
By V Ayyappan, TNN |
CHENNAI: With roughly 40% of Jet Airways pilots staying away from work on the third consecutive day, the ones who reported for duty were clearly a stressed out lot, putting in more hours at work and sparking concerns about air safety.
Desperate to minimise cancellations and avoid inconvenience to passengers, the airline is making the most of pilots willing to fly. However, experts believe that violating stipulated rest hours for pilots would lead to a compromise on air safety.
A Jet Airways first officer who landed from Mumbai at 9 pm on Tuesday was rostered to fly a Singapore service at 1 am on Wednesday. But he had to remain at the airport till 3 am when the Singapore flight was cancelled. He was eventually dropped off at a hotel. But he was called in again to fly a 10.45 am service to Dubai.
Such incidents give rise to suspicion among experts that rules for rest hours are being flouted. ���A pilot should get 18 hours rest prior to operating an international flight. In this case the pilot had to operate the flight to Dubai after barely a couple of hours of rest,��� said Captain Mohan Ranganathan , a former pilot and air safety expert.
A Jet official denied the allegation and said they were adhering to rules even when trying to maintain schedules.
Desperate to minimise cancellations and avoid inconvenience to passengers, the airline is making the most of pilots willing to fly. However, experts believe that violating stipulated rest hours for pilots would lead to a compromise on air safety.
A Jet Airways first officer who landed from Mumbai at 9 pm on Tuesday was rostered to fly a Singapore service at 1 am on Wednesday. But he had to remain at the airport till 3 am when the Singapore flight was cancelled. He was eventually dropped off at a hotel. But he was called in again to fly a 10.45 am service to Dubai.
Such incidents give rise to suspicion among experts that rules for rest hours are being flouted. ���A pilot should get 18 hours rest prior to operating an international flight. In this case the pilot had to operate the flight to Dubai after barely a couple of hours of rest,��� said Captain Mohan Ranganathan , a former pilot and air safety expert.
A Jet official denied the allegation and said they were adhering to rules even when trying to maintain schedules.
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