Stating that some 30-odd co-pilots were being “forced to work overtime” without any remuneration, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), in a letter to the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday said, “Putting these highly-stressed and financially over-burdened co-pilots in the same cockpit... is a perfect recipe for disaster.” ICPA represents the pilots of the narrow-body Airbus A320. This is the second time in the last 10 days that the ICPA has red-flagged safety concerns in Air India to the DGCA.
Earlier, it had asked aviation regulator to ground the airline’s 26-year-old A-320 fleet citing safety concerns.
The fresh communication to the regulator comes following the action of Andreas Lubitz, co-pilot of the Germanwings flight who last week crashed the Airbus A320 plane into the French Alps killing himself and 149 others.
Reports thereafter have said that 27-year-old Lubitz was suffering from depression but had hidden this from his airline, which is a subsidiary of Lufthansa.
The incident has triggered a debate over pilots’ mental health in India as well. ICPA said that these junior pilots were inducted into Air India from Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Academy on the terms of permanent employment, but the management later decided to unilaterally change the terms of employment to one-off contract.
Earlier, it had asked aviation regulator to ground the airline’s 26-year-old A-320 fleet citing safety concerns.
The fresh communication to the regulator comes following the action of Andreas Lubitz, co-pilot of the Germanwings flight who last week crashed the Airbus A320 plane into the French Alps killing himself and 149 others.
Reports thereafter have said that 27-year-old Lubitz was suffering from depression but had hidden this from his airline, which is a subsidiary of Lufthansa.
The incident has triggered a debate over pilots’ mental health in India as well. ICPA said that these junior pilots were inducted into Air India from Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Academy on the terms of permanent employment, but the management later decided to unilaterally change the terms of employment to one-off contract.