Pilot fatigue: Federation urges DGCA to withdraw airline flight duty-time exemptions, cites six deaths in 3 years

The Federation of Indian Pilots FIP has urged aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA to withdraw all temporary dispensations allowing airlines variations from prescribed Flight Duty Time Limitations FDTL rules saying the exemptions must not continue at a time when concerns over pilot fatigue and health are mountingIn a letter written on Tuesday September 15 to DGCA Director General FIP President Captain CS Randhawa also sought mandatory implementation of Fatigue Risk Management Systems FRMS across Indian aviation and an independent scientific review of pilot health trends after citing six pilot deaths on duty or during dutyrelated activities between November 2023 and September 2026FDTL rules prescribe limits on how long pilots can remain on duty and the rest they must receive between duties FIP has repeatedly argued that allowing airlines to operate with variations or dispensations from these requirements can weaken the fatigue safeguards built into the regulationsThe federations latest demand comes after Air India Capt Sunny Asladekar was found dead in a Delhi hotel on September 11 while in the Capital for Boeing 787 conversion training and during a layover period The cause of death is under investigation and no direct link between fatigue and the death has been establishedFIP has specifically clarified that it is not attributing the deaths to fatigueldquoWhile FIP does not seek to establish any direct causal link between fatigue and the individual fatalities referred to in the representation we believe that these events warrant an urgent and comprehensive review of fatigue exposure rostering practices recovery opportunities medical surveillance and FRMS effectiveness across Indian aviation operationsrdquo the federation saidWhy FIP wants the exemptions withdrawnFIP has been pressing DGCA and the Ministry of Civil Aviation for the withdrawal of FDTL variations for more than a yearIn its July 9 letter the pilots body said temporary variations granted to airlines had continued despite changes in flight schedules It said Air India and IndiGo had received FDTL variations in December 2025 and argued that these should now be withdrawnFIP said that with airlines operating curtailed schedules pilots were flying fewer hours and there was no justification for continuing the dispensations It also warned that retaining such variations could allow airlines to defer recruitment and later seek further exemptions when operations return to normalThe federation has called for full implementation of CAR Section 7 Series J Part III on FDTL which it said was implemented following orders of the Delhi High CourtldquoFDTL and FRMS are important pillars of Flight Safety which must be implemented and adhered by all airlinesrdquo FIP said in its July representationSix deaths cited in FIP representationThe federations September 15 letter lists six publicly reported pilot deathsNovember 2023 An Air India pilot aged 37 died at Delhi Airport Terminal 3 during Boeing 777 training activities Suspected cardiac arrest was citedFebruary 2024 A senior pilot travelling as an operating crew member with Qatar Airways became ill on a DelhiDoha flight and later died despite a diversion to DubaiFebruary 24 2026 Air ambulance pilot Savraj Deep Singh 30 was killed when a medical evacuation aircraft crashed after departure from RanchiApril 29 2026 Air India Captain Tarundeep Singh died of a heart attack during a scheduled layoverrest period in Bali after operating a DelhiDenpasar flightApril 30 2026 Akasa Air Captain Arjun Naidu 44 died after suffering a heart attack during a ground training session in Bengaluru FIP said ALPA India described the death as occurring in the line of dutySeptember 11 2026 Air India Captain Sunny Asladekar was found dead in a Delhi hotel during Boeing 787 conversion training and a layover period The cause of death is under investigationFIP said the cases irrespective of their eventual medical findings warranted a review of fatigue exposure rostering recovery opportunities medical surveillance and FRMS effectivenessFIP wants fatigue reporting data made publicAlong with withdrawing the FDTL dispensations FIP has sought a DGCAled National FRMS Oversight Programme involving regulators airlines pilot associations medical specialists sleep scientists and human factors expertsThe federation wants airlines to submit fatiguerelated data to DGCA every quarter including the number of fatigue reports received reports accepted and rejected corrective action taken FRMS performance indicators and fatiguerelated operational occurrencesIt has also sought annual publication of anonymised industry fatigue statistics by DGCAFIP has proposed an independent scientific review of pilot health trends from 2023 to 2026 covering cardiovascular events sudden incapacitation cases and dutycyclerelated health occurrences It has also called for scrutiny of roster construction standby utilisation reserve duty allocation ultralongrange operations and exposure to circadian disruptionRest opportunity does not always mean sleep obtainedFIPs push for mandatory FRMS follows its August 21 proposal to DGCA in which it cited the January 2024 Batik Air incident in Indonesia as an example of why dutytime limits alone may not capture every fatigue riskOn January 25 2024 both pilots of Batik Air flight BTK6723 an Airbus A320 flying from Kendari to Jakarta inadvertently fell asleep for about 28 minutes During the period the aircraft deviated from its assigned route and ATC was unable to contact the crew The captain eventually woke up noticed the aircrafts deviation and woke the first officer The flight subsequently continued safely to JakartaFIP highlighted the incident to argue that fatigue management must look beyond the number of hours a pilot has been off dutyThe federation said factors such as actual sleep obtained circadian disruption workload consecutive duties night operations and individual fatigue vulnerability need to be consideredIt has therefore sought mandatory FRMS implementation for scheduled operators datadriven fatigue monitoring periodic independent audits and a nonpunitive system allowing pilots to report fatigue without fear of adverse consequencesFIP also wants recognised pilot representative bodies including the federation to formally participate in future discussions on FDTL FRMS pilot fatigue and aviation safetyThe federation said its objective was to ensure fatigue was treated as a systemic aviation safety issue and that regulatory action was taken proactively rather than only after an accident or serious incident