Social Media Bug Bites Indian Air Force: Air Chief Marshal Says Overindulgence Leading To Sleep Deprivation In Pilots 

Spending long hours on social media at night is leading to sleep deprivation in IAF pilots, Air Chief Marshal B S Dhanoa said. NDTV reported, Dhanoa has sought the creating of a system to identify if the pilots had slept enough before taking off on sorties. He has urged the Institute of Aerospace Medicine to come up with such a system

The New Indian Express reported, “he said that sleep deprivation among Indian Air Force (IAF) pilots was induced by indulging in social media late into the night.”

He was speaking at the 57th Indian Society of Aerospace Medicine conference in Bengaluru. "Everybody appears to be spending long hours on social media, late nights. Most flight briefings, sometimes, are as early as 6 am and pilots haven't had enough sleep," he said.

He gave his reason for the need of the system that would help detect whether the pilot has had enough sleep before taking off on sorties. He said that a fatal accident took place in 2013 “as the pilot did not get adequate sleep for a prolonged time.” He added, "I request the medical practitioners to find a solution for this problem.”

The lack of sleep, however, goes undetected unlike other things. He said, “Earlier if a pilot had one drink too many, the bar man would know. If he failed to notice, the others would know and he would be laid off flying for the day. Today we even have breath analysers," he said.

Dhanoa noted that the problem soared during the summer, especially during the months and air bases where temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius and where pilots are expected to take off on early morning sorties.

The problem, he said, was aggravated in summer months at air bases where temperatures exceeded 40 degrees Celsius. Pilots are expected to fly early morning sorties as they will not be able to fly later in the day under such conditions.

The New Indian Express quotes him: “Since these pilots have briefings at 6 am, they are expected to sleep early. But most are active on social media late (in the night),” he said.  Flying sorties beyond 40 degree celsius is discouraged. Flight briefings take place early. And sleep deprivation could be a hindrance in such conditions.

TNIE reports that recently Army chief General Bipin Rawat, too “was reported to have said that the defence establishment should use social media to its advantage instead of imposing a ban on its use by personnel.”

According to this report, he was quoted saying “...Can you deny a soldier from possessing a smart phone? If you can’t prevent usage of smartphone, it is best to allow it (access to social media). But it is important to have means of imposing discipline. Social media is here to stay. Soldiers will use social media. Our adversary will use social media for psychological warfare and deception. We must leverage it to our advantage.”

The need, according to Dhanoa, is to monitor sleep deprivation and prevent those pilots from flying aircrafts who are sleep deprived.