Following several stories of shocking behavior of pilots on duty, an alarmed aviation regulator is planning to make it mandatory for airlines to have cameras in cockpits.
In the most recent violation, Air India pilots allegedly allowed airhostesses to be in their seats and get a crash course on how to fly a plane during a Bangkok-Delhi flight. In another shocker, an Air India plane landed in Mumbai without ATC clearance.
"The directorate general of civil aviation is seriously deliberating having cameras in the cockpit in the interest of flight safety as pilots would know they are under watch. This proposal was earlier floated by the International Civil Aviation Organization and now our flight standards department is working on it," an official to TOI.
Pilots bound to resist move
DGCA officials anticipate opposition from both pilot and airline lobbies to the plan. Airlines will oppose it on the ground that it will mean extra expense for them — both in terms of purchasing equipment and then the recurring cost of downloading the content and maintaining records. Pilots would oppose it as they would be constantly under electronic watch.
Despite the opposition it knows the move will generate, the aviation regulator is favourably inclined to the plan. More than anything, it wants cameras to act as a deterrent for "irresponsible behavior" inside the cockpit that could imperil flight safety as per a TOI report.
"On long flights, it is common for one pilot to take a nap for some time after telling the other to stay alert and wake him/her if the other person is also sleepy. The camera will ensure that both do not doze off at the same time or do the kind of stuff that has been reported recently," said sources.
While the plan details are being worked out, the DGCA brass is keen that airlines should download camera recording after a fixed time period and keep it for some time. "In almost all cases where crew is at fault, the airline or crew itself does not report the incident for some hours. They always wait for the plane to do some more flights so that the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) only has recordings of the last few flights and not the one where the incident occurred. This erases vital proof for investigating an incident," admitted an official.
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