The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has suggested that the scheduled work hours for Aircraft Maintenance Personnel should not exceed 48 hours in any period of seven successive days.

“Total work including overtime, should not exceed 60 hours for seven successive work days before a period of rest days. In fact, it is desirable that work and rest period should match each other for effective dissipation of fatigue, which builds up over the period of work. Work duration for any individual should also have consideration of their mental condition/stress level during the work and complexity/criticality involved,” the DGCA said in an Air Worthiness Advisory Circular (AAC) on Duty Time Limitation for the maintenance personnel.

The Advisory comes in the back drop of accidents in which maintenance personnel have lost their lives.

The Advisory states that it is appropriate that in line with Pilot and Cabin crew, every organisation should also frame a policy for AMP Duty Time Limitations (DTL) and an adequate rest period.

Pointing out that fatigue builds up over a work period and this can be partially ameliorated by breaks, the advisory states that working for a longer duration without any break should be avoided as far as possible.

Minimum rest period

“Duration of break should be planned taking into account the logistic and other constraints. A minimum rest period of 11 hours should be allowed between the end of shift and the beginning of the next, and this should not be compromised by overtime,” it says adding that a break should be planned every four hours of work.

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