Lack of standby crew, delays not new in Air India
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Lack of standby crew, delays not new in Air India
MUMBAI: The muddle that a Muscat-Chennai flight landed in over an unscheduled crew change on Sunday indicates how Air India (AI) operates without proper back-up and coordination.
The AI flight was diverted to the city airport as the flight duty time limit (FDTL) of the crew had expired following a four-hour delay at Muscat, but it took the airline three hours to arrange for another team, leaving 72 passengers fuming.
The incident was another reminder of the lack of a strong standby system in AI because of a shortage of co-pilots—at least 250 more are required—and other crew.
AI officials said that Sunday's was not an isolated incident; last week an AI flight had to be rescheduled in Kolkata after the commander reported sick.
"There was no back-up ready," an AI official said. "There are many such occasions when FDTL expiry forces a major flight delay."
An AI official said on Sunday it took three hours to just find out which pilots could report on duty.
"Unlike other airlines, AI has only two back-up shifts," an Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) member said. "There is no back-up after 11pm till about 7am. This is mainly because of crew shortage."
At Delhi, many flights are flown by two commanders on board, instead of one commander and a co-pilot. "Commanders are being wasted by filling in for co-pilots," said the ICPA member.
Sunday's incident also reflects poorly on coordination in the AI. "Since the airline knew the delay was long and FDTL would expire, the station manager could have alerted Mumbai for back-up," a commander said.
Lack of standby crew, delays not new in Air India - The Times of India
The AI flight was diverted to the city airport as the flight duty time limit (FDTL) of the crew had expired following a four-hour delay at Muscat, but it took the airline three hours to arrange for another team, leaving 72 passengers fuming.
The incident was another reminder of the lack of a strong standby system in AI because of a shortage of co-pilots—at least 250 more are required—and other crew.
AI officials said that Sunday's was not an isolated incident; last week an AI flight had to be rescheduled in Kolkata after the commander reported sick.
"There was no back-up ready," an AI official said. "There are many such occasions when FDTL expiry forces a major flight delay."
An AI official said on Sunday it took three hours to just find out which pilots could report on duty.
"Unlike other airlines, AI has only two back-up shifts," an Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) member said. "There is no back-up after 11pm till about 7am. This is mainly because of crew shortage."
At Delhi, many flights are flown by two commanders on board, instead of one commander and a co-pilot. "Commanders are being wasted by filling in for co-pilots," said the ICPA member.
Sunday's incident also reflects poorly on coordination in the AI. "Since the airline knew the delay was long and FDTL would expire, the station manager could have alerted Mumbai for back-up," a commander said.
Lack of standby crew, delays not new in Air India - The Times of India
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Why should any pilot group in India be motivated, or professional when you have ******** politicians and owners of private airlines who cannot keep their trousers zipped up ??
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Why should any pilot group in India be motivated, or professional when you have ******** politicians and owners of private airlines who cannot keep their trousers zipped up ??
You can't CLAP with one one hand, you need two....
What do they say "It takes two to tango......"
The Pilots, FA's & AME's all have developed an entiltlement mentatlity.....
The AI Union is corrupt, employess don't want to work or basically as little as possible, management is stealing from the company, politicians are even more corrupt & private airlines owners are greedy.....
Air India is like a big gaint tree, it is being eaten by the woodpecker, the termites, white ants and there is a person who is chopping the branches everyday for firewood....
Last edited by pilotbaba; 26th Apr 2013 at 03:23.
