DGCA denies delaying flight duty time regime,requests SC to drop contempt proceedings

Refuting any intention on its part to delay the norms for rationalising the flying duty hours for pilots,the Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA has requested the Supreme Court to drop the contempt proceeding against its top brass for not efficaciously implementing the civil aviation regulations CAR with regard to flight duty time limitation FDTL.

Refuting any intention on its part to delay the norms for rationalising the flying duty hours for pilots,the Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA has requested the Supreme Court to drop the contempt proceeding against its top brass for not efficaciously implementing the civil aviation regulations CAR with regard to flight duty time limitation FDTL.

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The aviation regulator informed a bench led by Justice P Sathasivam that as on March 18,All schedule operations in India are covered by the provisions of FDTL under CAR of 2011, in accordance with the apex courts May 3,2011 order. The court had in May 2011directed the DGCA to bring new CAR for FDTL to minimise pilots flight fatigue.

While all the airlines were covered under the FDTL with effect from March 2012,norms remained to be approved for international operations of Air India and Jet Airways. This prompted an association of Indian pilots to move the apex court,alleging partisan attitude of the DGCA in selectively relaxing rules for a few airlines.

The contempt plea claimed that DGCAs action prejudiced passengers safety on the pretext of referring the matter to government. It also listed a number of incidents,including Indian Airlines Boeing 737 air crash at Aurangabad,killing 55 persons due to delayed alertness,and May 22,2010 crash of Air India IX 812 at Mangalore,which claimed 158 lives,due to sleep loss and fatigue.

Appearing for the DGCA,Additional Solicitor General Mohan Jain however denied these charges and sought permission to file a counter affidavit.

The affidavit said: It is denied that there was any intention,much less a clear intention to delay new FDTL. Since the implementation of FDTL CAR involved study of various aspects,including flight crew fatigue and rest period,CAR has been implemented progressively to cover the entire operation in the country.