Air traffic controllers are at times under stress, says govt

The government today acknowledged that air traffic controllers are at times under stress at airports having high density operations and said suitable measures are in place to address such situations.
"The situation at times is stressful at the airports where high density operations takes place," Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said in a written reply to the Rajya Sabha.
He was responding to a query on whether it is a fact that officers manning air traffic controls are stressed due to tough working hours and conditions.
Sharma said suitable measures are already in place to mitigate the stress level of air traffic controllers, including introduction of weekly off and regular yoga classes for stress management.

"The working conditions in the air traffic control units are congenial and air traffic controllers are given adequate relief during duty period and the interval between two successive duties," he noted.
Besides, harmonisation of airspace with multiple sectors to reduce the stress level of air traffic controllers has been implemented at Chennai and Kolkata airports.

Performance-based navigation procedures in terminal and enroute airspace is in place at all major airports, the Minister said.
Meanwhile, Sharma said that no change in the medical standards of pilots is proposed as they are in line with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) requirements.
However, many airlines are carrying out psychometric test of pilots at the time of induction, he added.

He was replying to a query on whether the government is considering to have a regular psychological tests for pilots and cabin crew members.
To another question on whether airlines need a programme wherein an employee can be treated without being ridiculed, Sharma said, "as per the system in place, medical records of the crew are kept confidential".
In response to a separate query, Sharma said Air India has made psychometric test mandatory for recruitment of trainee pilots (commercial pilot license holders) but candidates recruited as cabin crew are not subjected to any psychometric test.
"The recruitment test for the post of trainee cabin crew was conducted by Indian Institute of Psychometry on January 11, 2015 at Delhi and Chennai. 401 candidates were called for written test, 394 candidates appeared, out of which 357 candidates qualified the same," the Minister said.

He was responding to a query on whether Air India has got written tests conducted by the Indian Institute of Psychometry for 350 cabin crew members it was going to hire.