PIA: FDTL violation compromising flight safety
Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) used to be one of the world’s finest air carriers. Today, it is a shadow of what it was, primarily because it has been cut down by persistent and elongated maladministration, negligence, nepotism and corruption.
Baaghi TV special report portrays serious lapses in terms of flight duty time limitations violations and mismanage along with Operator Non-Conformance Report (ONCR) issuance by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The incumbent Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) management has committed gross violations of the rules and procedures compromising flight safety as follows:
- On April 2020, Captain Waqar Hassan was forced to operate PK-781 (ISB-TORONTO) with minimum rest of 9 hours & 54 minutes. However, according to the CAA Rules (ANO-91, 0012) it is mandatory for a pilot to take a 24-hour rest before embarking on a long route flight. The gross violation of CAA ANO-91, 0012 that resulted in his being issued ONCR which was invalidated by the PIA management.
- On April 7, 2020, another PIA flight PK-783 (LHE-YYZ-LHE) is an example of maladministration where a Non-Atlantic Crew was forced to operate the unauthorized flight by the management.
PIA: Massive corruption in flight operations
- Notwithstanding the mandatory nature of above ANO, Chief Pilot Scheduling PIA issued a letter requiring crew consent for conducting flights above Duty Time Limitations from the crew. However, many others were forced upon the crew which exceeded 18 hours, and the misplaced waiver of four hours was used for planning purposes that is violation of ANO-91,0012, jeopardizing flight safety.
- Another example of PIA’s mismanagement is Flight Number PK-8871/8872 (ISB- HKG-CTU-ISB) dated 30th April 2020 which operated with a flight duty time of hours 21:56. Similarly, on April 26, 2020, PIA Flight Number PK-8749/8750 (ISB-FRA-ISB) operated with flight duty time of hours 21:35.
Just like the above two examples, the list of flight duty time violations by the PIA management is very long indeed. On April 25, 2020, Flight Number PK-771/772 (ISB-OSL-ISB) was operated with a flight duty time of 24:10 hours. Moreover, on May 23, 2020, Flight Number PK-8719/8720 (ISB-MXP-ISB) operated with flight duty time of 23:05 hours.
PIA Officials Cause Losses Worth Millions……
Flight and Duty Time Limitations (FTL) are necessary to ensure that air crew fatigue does not endanger flight safety. Pilot’s fatigue (due to long duty hours, insufficient rest/sleep opportunities etc.) can pose a risk to the safety of air operations. However, PIA management forced their staff to work under such conditions violating the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of Civil Aviation Authority.
This menace has to be curtailed and the customer care in true spirit has to be established to regain the lost confidence from the customer.
Pakistan’s higher authorities and PIA management should take notice of this impetuous practice and take strict and serious actions against the concerned person/department.
Baaghi TV will bring to you some more intersting stories and content regarding the negligence of PIA’s management which can become a huge risk for their crew and the passengers.
Stay tuned to Baaghi TV for the latest news and updates!
