Management of Crew Fatigue During Flight

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked all airline operators henceforth to maintain log entries wherein it would be confirmed that the cabin crew had interacted on intercom with the cockpit crew (Commander and Co-pilot alternatively) with a gap of not more than 30 minutes.

Pilot’s fatigue has been recognized as one of the serious safety hazards and contributory factors in accidents/serious incidents. Analyses of such incidents reveal that the operating crew were affected by micro sleep phenomenon.

A DGCA Circular 2 of 2009 was issued on the subject wherein it was suggested that following measures may be taken to avoid such incidents:

• Procedure be introduced wherein the cabin crew should interact with pilots at half an hour basis using intercom during the period when crew activity is low.

• Pilot be advised to keep area speaker on high volume during low activity period.

In order to ensure that the above actions are taken by the crew during the flight, some documentation is required to be maintained by the operator. Secondly, an entry that the area speaker was kept at high volume during low activity period may be added in the flight report.

Hence, the DGCA has issued the recent direction for strict compliance by all airline operators.

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MC/MK