Indian military pilots lack sleep due to being too addicted to social networks
The Indian Air Force commander believes that the reason pilots lose sleep is because of the habit of using social networks 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 the 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 measures to limit and control such behavior.
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 suffering from prolonged sleep deprivation and called for a solution.
