The Hindu Business Line : Aviation ‘spirit’-ualism

Studies have shown that after 17-24 hours of wakefulness, the fatigue effect on the performance of a pilot was equivalent to a blood alcohol level that was beyond the legal limit.

— Nagara Gopal

There have been several instances of pilots failing the breathalyser tests before a flight.

A. Ranganathan

The superior man understands what is right; the inferior man understands what will sell. — Confucius

People get inspired by the deeds of great persons. In aviation, there were two who inspired others to emulate their feat. One was Douglas Bader, the hero of the Second World War. He had lost both his legs, yet, he got back into flying a fighter and shot down 22 aircraft. His life was portrayed in the movie Reach for the Sky and it inspired many. A Commission which included Douglas Bader, was also responsible for coming out with a scientific study on pi lot fatigue and duty time.

The other man who inspired many was Charles Lindberg, who made the first flight across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927. His aircraft, ‘Spirit of St. Louis’, is displayed in the National Aerospace Museum in Washington D.C.

Flying ‘high’

Sometimes, words of famous men are misunderstood. Bader, a hero during the Battle of Britain days, said: “If you had the height, you controlled the battle.” This may have inspired people the wrong way.

During the ‘Leadership’ seminar in November 2008, the Chairman of Kingfisher responded that “with both Kingfisher beer and the airline, you are flying.” Well, that is what an American pilot of a Jet Airways flight from London to Mumbai did.

Lindberg’s aircraft had the Registration No. N-X-211. In the days when 11 is associated more with 9/11 and 26/11, the Gen-Nxt pilot of flight 9W 119, was found to be flying even before he left the ground.

The Heathrow police arrested him when the ground staff reported his ‘spiritual’ condition. A fortnight earlier, a pilot of United Airlines was also arrested on similar grounds.

Most countries enforce a strict code of conduct as far as drunken condition is concerned, whether one is driving or flying. Unfortunately, in India, we are very soft on this violation of safety norm. Forgiveness is part of our spiritualism! The regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), has been guilty of consistently forgiving ‘spiritual’ pilots. It seems to be a case of complete ignorance on what the implications are. Or, were they inspired by another of Bader’s famous quotes, “Rules are for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men”?

Fatigue, alcoholism

Fatigue and alcoholism have been on the agenda of international aviation studies. The study conducted by Rosekind of NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and Dr Drew Dawson, University of South Australia Sleep Research Centre, have highlighted the threat due to those two factors.

Rosekind said: “A microsleep can be the ultimate outcome — when you’ve lost sleep, or it’s the wrong time of the day (the circadian factor). Your brain’s going to shut you down to get the sleep that you need, no matter what situation you’re in. That’s what we call microsleep. It means no information is going in, no performance is coming out. It can literally be half a second to many seconds.

“In a NASA study we did, in one group of pilots flying nine-hour transatlantic flights, we measured them during the last 90 minutes of flight and observed microsleeps that were five seconds or longer. Five seconds can be a critical amount of time during a landing. We counted 120 microsleeps in a group that was not allowed to nap. Twenty-two of those (microsleeps) were literally when the wheels were coming to the ground.”

The findings of Prof. Dawson “were simple, straightforward and profoundly shocking on one level.

After 17 hours of wakefulness, at about 3 o’clock in the morning, the fatigue effects on performance were equal to a 0.05 per cent blood alcohol concentration. And that at 7 a.m. or 8 a.m., that is, after 22 or 24 hours of wakefulness, we saw performance impairment equivalent to 0.1 per cent blood alcohol concentration (in most states in the US, a blood alcohol level of 0.05 to 0.1 is sufficient to be arrested for DUI, driving under the influence).

“One of the things we discovered was that the more complicated the task, and the more it involves your brain and your decision making, the more susceptible it is to fatigue. So we found that judgment and reasoning showed a more profound effect earlier in the experiment than we did with the simple sensory coordination tests or with the hand-eye coordination tests.”

Seriousness lacking

The civil aviation authorities in India do not seem to understand the seriousness of fatigue and alcoholism. The DGCA has given waivers and dispensations on duty time and rest periods to both Air India and Jet Airways.

These were done for their extra-long-haul flights. There have been several instances of pilots having been caught for failing the breathalyser tests before a flight. Many of them are holding senior management positions or training positions. How can they enforce discipline?

What are the implications? Prof. Dawson’s study has proved that the performance level of a pilot after 17-24 hours of wakefulness, is equivalent to a blood alcohol level which is beyond the legal limit. On top of that, if the pilot has consumed alcohol, his or her performance level is going to be at a dangerous level, even with lesser hours of wakefulness.

The other serious implication is the lack of strong action by the DGCA against persons holding Examiners/Instructors/Check pilot ratings. There have been several in this category who have been found guilty on more than one occasion.

These pilots are permitted to fly with a trainee pilot at the controls of a fully loaded passenger airline. The ab initio pilot is not even conversant with basic operations in a busy airport environment.

Aviation accidents involving alcoholism are few, but fatigue has been a major factor. According to a recent study by the Australian Transportation Safety Board, fatalities in alcohol-related accidents are very high, even though the number of incidents is few.

People might remember the Indian Airlines A-300 VT-ELV accident on September 29, 1986, in Chennai. Both the pilots were found to have had blood alcohol levels higher than the permissible limit.

Every year, the DGCA goes through the charade of enforcing discipline on “spiritual’ crew members. More than 25 are found guilty, every year.

Do we learn from past mistakes or do we drown our sorrow in the “Spirit of the new year”?

(The author is an airline captain with 35 years of flying experience. blfeedback@thehindu.co.in)