Kumar Bahukhandi
A team of DGCA investigates the site where a Delhi-bound air ambulance crashed last night, killing all 7 people onboard, in Chatra
New Delhi : Asserting that safety lapses cannot be simply blamed on pilots, aviation watchdog DGCA on Tuesday February 24 announced a raft of strict measures for non-scheduled operators, including intensive audits and a safety ranking mechanism, amid safety concerns raised in the wake of recent aircraft accidents.
After a special audit found various lapses, the regulator has also grounded four planes of Non-Scheduled Operator VSR Ventures Pvt Ltd, whose aircraft crashed at Baramati, killing Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others on January 28.
A day after a plane, operated by a non-scheduled operator (NSOP), crashed in Jharkhand, killing seven people onboard, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) held a meeting with all such operators on Tuesday.
The meeting was held to “address a recent surge in aviation incidents and emphasised the critical need for an increased focus on safety across the sector”, the regulator said in a statement.
It also happened on a day when a Pawan Hans helicopter carrying seven people crashed into the sea in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and all of them were rescued.
While announcing the slew of measures for NSOPs on Tuesday, the watchdog stressed that accountable managers and senior leadership of NSOPs would be held personally responsible for systemic non-compliances, and stressed that “safety lapses cannot simply be blamed on pilots”.
To detect “unauthorised operations or the falsifying of data” by NSOPs, increased random Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) audits, cross-verification of ADS-B (Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast) data, fuel records, and technical logs of their aircraft will be carried out.
The operators would have to disclose critical safety information on their websites, including aircraft age, maintenance history, and pilot experience. There would also be a safety ranking mechanism of all NSOPs and the criteria for such ranking, safety rankings will be published on the DGCA website for public information, according to a statement.
According to the statement, pilots found violating Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) or attempting to land ‘below safety minima’ may face licence suspensions of up to five years, while NSOPs failing to meet compliance standards would be penalised and their licences or permits could be suspended.
“Increased monitoring will be applied to older aircraft and those undergoing ownership changes. Furthermore, the regulator will audit NSOPs that run their own Maintenance, Repair, and Overhaul (MRO) facilities; those found lacking adequacy will be required to outsource maintenance to approved organisations,” it said.
Mentioning that weather-related accidents are often the result of poor judgment rather than unpredictability of weather, DGCA said operators would be mandated to establish real-time weather update systems and strict compliance of established Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
Additionally, recurrent training for pilots must have greater emphasis on weather awareness strategies and decision-making in uncontrolled environments.
“Safety must remain the absolute priority, superseding all commercial considerations, charter commitments or VIP movements. The authority asserted that an organisation’s leadership must prioritise safety above all other criteria.
“To support this, the authority reaffirmed that the Pilot-in-Command’s decision to divert, delay, or cancel a flight for safety reasons is final and must be respected by operators without commercial consequences,” the statement said.
After completion of the first phase of the special safety audit of NSOPs in early March, the second phase covering the remaining NSOPs will be undertaken.
“Additionally, a physical workshop on safety will be convened following the completion of current intensive audits to ensure all stakeholders are aligned with these new operational mandates,” DGCA said in the statement.
DGCA said the high-level interaction with NSOPs on Tuesday followed a comprehensive review of accident data from the past decade, which identified non-adherence to SOPs, inadequate flight planning, and training deficiencies as the primary causative factors in aircraft accidents.
In less than a month, accidents involving two aircraft operated by NSOPs have claimed the lives of 12 people. While 7 people died in the accident of RedBird Airways’ Beechcraft C90 aircraft VT-AJV, which was operating a medical evacuation flight, in Jharkhand on February 23 , the crash of Learjet 45 aircraft (VT-SSK), owned by VSR Ventures, at Baramati (Maharashtra) killed 5 people on January 28.
Meanwhile, after finding several compliance lapses, DGCA on Tuesday directed the grounding of four aircraft of VSR Ventures. The move came after a special audit of the operator that was ordered after its plane crashed at Baramati.
While the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is expected to come out with its preliminary report into the fatal crash before February 28, concerns have been raised in certain quarters claiming there could have been a conspiracy that led to the crash.
On Tuesday, the Business Aircraft Operators Association (BAOA) said the tragic air ambulance accident in Jharkhand yesterday evening is a sobering reminder that in aviation, safety can never be taken for granted.
“As business aircraft operators connecting many uncontrolled airfields with limited weather and advisory support, we must ensure that safety is never, ever compromised under any circumstances.
“With the pre-monsoon season approaching, I urge each of you to conduct internal safety audits, reinforce strict crew briefings, and recommit collectively to the principle that safety must remain our first priority always and without exception,” it said in a statement.
(Source-PTI)
