The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has set up an advisory panel to review and upgrade of rules and regulations to the level of best global practices.
The panel, to be called the Aviation Regulations Advisory Panel (ARAP), would review regulations in the entire range of areas, including airworthiness, flight operations, flight safety, aerodromes, air transport services and navigation, a notice at the aviation regulator’s site read.
It would also deal with areas such as licensing of pilots, air traffic controllers and other personnel and would also recommend changes to bring the regulations on a par with the best global practices.
ARAP would comprising officials of the DGCA, the service providers and airport and airline operators and would review the existing regulations over the next 10-15 years.
The panel would suggest revision of these regulations wherever required and justified. It would carry out its task and meet from time to time and the panel could also co-opt experts from various non-scheduled operators, aircraft manufacturers and MRO (maintenance, repair and overhaul) facility providers too. The panel will set up working groups in different areas to study revision of regulation.
The new panel was needed as a number of new regulations were framed in 1990s to regulate operation and safety of aviation due to liberalisation and deregulation of domestic air transport. In the current decade, several significant changes, including surge in demand have taken place in the aviation sector in the country and aviation technology has also advanced. At present, a defined and well-structured standing system for upgrade of the regulations does not exist, read the notice, said the notice at the regulator’s website.
The aviation regulator, which is to prepare a draft of the ‘State Safety Programme’ (SSP), has set up an ‘SSP Group’ under the chairmanship of its director general. The group includes participation from the airline industry and service providers.