Indian military pilots lack sleep due to excessive use of social media
The Indian Air Force chief believes that the reason pilots are losing sleep is because of their habit of using social media too much.
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| Indian military pilot. Illustration photo: Internet |
“People seem to spend a lot of time scrolling through social media late at night, while most of the briefings are very early, even at 6am. Pilots are sleep deprived by then,”RTSeptember 15 quoted a statement by Indian Air Force Commander Birender Singh Dhanoa.
Speaking at an aviation medicine conference in Bengaluru, Dhanoa said the Indian Air Force has implemented systems to check if pilots have consumed alcohol before flying but there is no system yet to check their sleep.
"We already have breathalyzers and we need to have a system that can check whether pilots have had enough sleep," General Dhanoa stressed.
General Dhanoa's call comes two weeks after the Indian army admitted it could not ban soldiers from using social media and smartphones and decided to only impose restrictions and controls on such behaviour.
The Indian Air Force has one of the highest accident rates in the world. A report in March said the force lost a total of 31 aircraft in crashes between 2014 and 2018. Dhanoa said a fatal military plane crash in 2013 was caused by pilots not getting enough sleep for long periods of time, and called for a solution.
