Navita
 
MUMBAI: If the meagre salaries discouraged pilots to become helicopter pilots, then here is a draft civil aviation requirement (CAR) from the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which is viewed in bad taste by some of the existing helicopter pilots. The draft CAR, if it comes into effect, will increase their yearly flight duty time limit (FDTL) to 1500 hours from the current 1300 hrs.

The pilots fear that if this draft CAR comes into effect, they will end up working 16 to 18 hours a day from the current 12-14 hours.

The daily FDTL will be increased from eight to nine hours and the monthly FDTL increased to 200 hours from 180 hours. “This means we will have FDTL same as the airline pilots although we do not have conducive working conditions like them,” says a helicopter pilot requesting anonymity.

For instance, each airline has its own flight dispatch system, which files the flight plan and gets it cleared from the air traffic control (ATC) and gives it to the pilot.

But as helicopter operations are non-scheduled, it is the pilots who have to do all this on their own.  “At present, our pre-flight time is 45 minutes. But the draft has proposed 30 minutes,” says the pilot. The pilots will have to file their flight plan, get it cleared from the ATC in those 30 minutes, which they say is a tad too difficult to perform.

Moreover, after they land at the destination, they also have to personally go and perform duties like paying navigation charges, landing charges, parking charges and night charges (in case of night landing) to the ATC. “As there is a lack of dedicated vehicle, we have to request the ATC or Indian Oil Company (IOC) which is our fuel supplier, to provide us a vehicle. Then we wait for the vehicle to come and refuel the helicopter,” says the pilot.

Source : DNAIndia