India Today: Bengaluru: Wednesday,
March 27, 2013.
Explosive
findings of air safety audits conducted by the Directorate General of Civil
Aviation (DGCA) have exposed major chinks in the aviation sector - planes with
screws missing, a flight that took off without the essential explosive
certification for refueling and routine inspections that were not carried out
because of lack of trained manpower.
In response
to an RTI filed by Mail Today, the DGCA conceded that there were safety gaps in
air operations.
Sources said
most safety inspections found improper documentation of air operations and
engineering checks done on the ground, indicating your safety on flight may
have been compromised.
In fact, DGCA
itself is so staff crunched that it cannot complete safety inspections of all
the airline operators in one year as per regulation. As a result, it outsources
the primary obligation of conducting the safety audits to airline companies
most of the time.
This
undermines the system of impartial safety inspection, said former DGCA Kanu
Gohain.
"How
much sincerity can you expect after delegating the safety audit
responsibilities to the airlines themselves?'' Gohain asked.
Last year,
the aviation regulator could only complete safety inspections of six out of 10
scheduled airline operators.
"The
last air safety audit done by DGCA was of SpiceJet in October 2012 and there
were total 38 findings listed to the operator," says DGCA in an RTI reply.
The audit was particular about gaps in documentation of flight operations and
engineering tests.
Radars;
Slip-ups on
flight safety are not the only hazard that the Indian flyers face. There have
been frequent tripping of radars at the air traffic control (ATC) rooms. Five
such incidents have been reported since January this year - two each in Delhi
and Kolkata and one in Bhubaneswar.
A fortnight
ago, on March 12, the Chennai airport was closed for operations from 2.30 am to
7 am following a fire in the equipment room and control centre of the local
ATC.
This
highlighted the absence of routine maintenance at critical facilities. Faced
with the frequency of such incidents, DGCA is proposing random fire safety
drills at major airports across the country and have sought detailed reports on
ATC failures from the Airports Authority of India (AAI).
DGCA Arun
Mishra played down safety fears saying, "There are layers of safety
personnel involved in the aviation sector and human errors can happen anywhere.
It happened in France recently where a spanner was found in the cabin of a
flight.''
However
Mishra conceded that while there was an expansion in the aviation sector, there
was no commensurate improvement in expertise on the ground. "We were not
geared up to match the demands and are trying to catch up. This is a highly
technical profession requiring experts but their salaries cannot be matched
within the government set-up. Hence, we find it difficult to get the
manpower.''
Safety;
Delhi, Mumbai
and Kolkata manage over 70 per cent of the daily air traffic. Some like Mumbai,
Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneswar and a few in the north-east sector are
designated as prone to safety hazards, admits a senior DGCA official.
There are
over 4,000 commercial pilots operating 1,000-odd planes in 10 scheduled
operators.
The RTI
showed on the basis of three-year findings that 83 pilots had tested positive
for alcohol and there were 72 near air-misses over the same period. Eleven
accidents, including five fatal ones, were also reported last year.
According to
the RTI reply given by the DGCA the pilots found drunk were suspended for three
months.
Giving
details about the 72 air misses, the DGCA said that there were "22 air
misses in 2010, 29 in 2011 and 18 reported last year". Three have been
reported to date this year.
DGCA Mishra
said that he is taking stringent action against the errant operators and has
passed "zero-tolerance'' directives against drunk pilots.
Highlighting
the urgency to ensure air safety, Kapil Kaul of the Centre for Asia Pacific
Aviation (CAPA) said, "The aviation sector is in urgent need of an
overhaul as we have been seriously short of key resources since 2009. The
safety oversight remains a challenge due to the shortage of trained manpower in
DGCA."
Shortage;
True, DGCA
itself is short of at least 400 trained personnel to carry out routine
operations, including air safety audits and inspections of the airports.
"The posts were sanctioned in 2009, but the process is yet to begin and
even if it starts now, it will take at least 2-3 years to complete,'' said
Gohain adding: "Maybe by that time there will be other demands confronting
the aviation sector.'' Former Air India executive director Jitendra Bhargava
endorses Kaul. "Even if safety levels fall by one per cent, it is not
fair. Safety needs investment and training of personnel needs time," said
Bhargava.
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