ATC staffers work continously for 11 hours, puts life of fliers at risk

The lives of around 64 passengers on board a JetLite aircraft flying from Rajkot to Mumbai was put to risk recently when two air traffic controllers monitoring the flight operations at Rajkot airport were made to work for 11 hours continuously, as the flight was delayed due to a technical snag. Airport authorities, however, blamed manpower shortage for their inability to provide a back-up.

As per the aviation safety regulations set up by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), an air traffic controller cannot be made to work beyond seven hours, as fatigue creeps in after that, which may lead to lapse in judgement on his/her part which could turn catastrophic. A reliever is to be provided once the controller finishes his/her duty hours, the ATC manual says.

When contacted, RP Srivastav, Air Traffic Control (ATC) in-charge at Rajkot airport, admitted to a breach of DGCA rules on Saturday night. "It was due to staff shortage, and the issue has been taken to the higher authorities," he told dna.

According to sources, the incident happened after the flight, which was lined up at Rajkot airport for take-off around 8.30pm, faced a last-minute technical snag and had to be brought back to taxi bay.

Sources added that when there was no communication from the airline staff for a long time, the ATC contacted the airline office around 9 pm, only to be told that they will be getting a different aircraft.

As per the work details, the two air traffic controllers were expected to complete their watch hour by 9 pm. However, due to the snag, the flight finally departed well past midnight, resulting in the controllers working till 1.30 am on Sunday.

Sources said it has become 'very frequent' for JetLite operating at Rajkot airport to delay take-offs citing technical snags.

A JetLite spokesperson asked for a day to respond to the allegation of frequent delays.