DC Edit | More rest for pilots welcome

Pilots need more rest and the aviation regulator redefining working hours and rest time for them is to be welcomed. Given India’s lackadaisical attitude to safety issues, it is no surprise that even the need for spelling out equitable rest hours for pilots is also the regulator’s responsibility rather than the airlines.

The aviation sector, particularly in India, has been struggling to cope with human resources issues with airlines poaching each other’s pilots rather than finding fresh talent, either at home or internationally.

In expanding the rest hours for pilots who are the key to safety in the skies and on the tarmac, the DGCA is attempting to bring Indian airlines closer to international best practices. The pace at which Indian aviation is expanding, it may not be long before the world’s most populous country also becomes the biggest aviation market.

It is not for anyone to suggest that safety issues apply mostly or only to the aviation sector, seen as elitist for long when very few people could afford to fly. The regulations covering long distance driving and the compulsory breaks for drivers as applicable in Spain might open the eyes of the world to what safety means on the roads too and how much it matters.

Of course, a lot more must be done regarding the need to address aviation safety issues at a time when so much is happening on the tarmac too. There was a warning to be heeded in the recent accident at the Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan where a passenger jet touched another aircraft, and both went up in flames and only the admirable discipline and patience of the Japanese led to safe evacuation of the passenger jet.

Of course, much more needs to be done in an era of stressed aviation when all airlines, including the ones tending to budget flyers, are known to cut corners because of the pinch felt in the bottom line. Safety is extremely important, and Indians must wake up to this if they want to enjoy the most of everything that modern life has to offer.