As the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) finalises the new regulations that cabin crew and pilots will have to adhere to in terms of health and precautionary measures during flying — psychometric tests being one of them as a mandatory procedure — a clutch of private airlines have already started incubating the medical procedure while hiring new pilots.
Psychometric tests are done to see the mental condition of the pilots and other flying staff. These tests that study the mental health of pilots took the world by storm after a Germanwings co-pilot (allegedly suffering from depression) locked his fellow co-pilot outside the cockpit and crashed the plane in the French Alps killing 150 passengers earlier this year.
The aviation regulatory officials said that at least four private airlines — AirAsia, SpiceJet, IndiGo and GoAir — have already started conducting psychometric tests while hiring pilots. “This is not yet mandatory until the regulations are made, but some of the private airlines have already started doing it, but we are not aware up to what extent are these tests being done. The regulations, once finalised, will have the complete understanding of the tests,” officials said.
A Jet Airways spokesperson said that he is unaware if any such tests are being done at the private airlines’ end.
“Some tests might have been conducted, but they can be a one-time test done on some pilots. I do not know if it is a part of the regular hiring procedure,” he said. Low-cost, no frills carrier SpiceJet also declined to comment for this story. IndiGo, India’s leading airlines by market share, had said earlier that it does psychological assessment for all its commercial pilot licence holders.
State-owned airline Air India has been reported earlier to have mandated psychometric tests for all its newly-hired pilots and cabin crew. Air India is known to have done these tests through a written procedure in collaboration with Indian Institute of Psychometry. Many, who appeared for the tests, were known to have failed.
However, the DGCA officials said that the private companies have helped in formulation of the test guidelines.
“Certain tips on the psychometric tests have been provided by the private airlines. The file is prepared and will be sent to the medical officer for examination either on Monday or Tueday,” said the DGCA officials on Friday. A panel headed by Lalit Gupta, joint-director general at the DGCA, will soon come out with the regulations.
Going forward, the DGCA officials mentioned that the tests would be a mandatory part of all screening process, which might be followed by a drug test. However, the parameters of the extent of these tests will be clear once the documents prepared by the DGCA is reviewed by the medical officers. The DGCA officials said that the final implementation might take a couple of months’ time.
However, some experts have criticised the DGCA’s move on mandating such tests as it is unable to find the depression level of the pilots, if any. Experts said that the regulator should look at bringing down the stress level of the flying staff, which is a big problem plaguing the Indian aviation industry.