 "DGCA suspends Air India's chief of flight safety, alleges lapses")
Air India’s Chief of Flight Safety Rajeev Gupta was suspended on Thursday for one month after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) uncovered multiple lapses during a surveillance carried out in July.
“The DGCA surveillance (conducted on July 25 and 26) found deficiencies in the accident prevention work carried out by the organisation and the availability of requisite technical manpower as required in the approved flight safety manual and the relevant Civil Aviation Requirements,” the aviation regulator’s statement noted.
Also, some internal audit or spot checks claimed to be carried out by the airline “were done in a perfunctory manner and not as per the regulatory requirements,” the statement added.
An Air India spokesperson said the airline acknowledged and accepted the regulator's finding, and “regrets the failure” of one of its audit staff to fully comply with the process and documentation requirements.
“Safety is Air India’s highest priority, and we are investing heavily in people, processes and systems to raise Air India’s standards to best practice. We are sparing no effort to uplift the culture of safety and diligence to contemporary standards, through clarifying requirements, training, and stricter consequence management. We will continue these efforts for as long as is needed to effect the necessary changes,” the spokesperson for the Tata group-owned airline added.
This is not the first time that the DGCA has taken action against a senior executive of an airline in India over safety violations. In August 2020, AirAsia India’s Chief of Operations Manish Uppal and Chief of Flight Safety Mukesh Nema were suspended for three months after one of its former pilots, YouTuber Gaurav Taneja, alleged violation of safety norms in the airline.
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Similarly, in July 2019, four senior executives of SpiceJet — GP Gupta, accountable executive; GPS Grewal, chief of flight safety; SPS Suri, senior vice-president - operations; and Vishal Sawhney, head of training — were issued show cause notices by the DGCA after a special audit team of the aviation regulator found lapses on their part after probing multiple landing incidents involving the airline. Grewal then resigned, while Suri and Sawhney were removed from their posts by SpiceJet.
In the case of Air India, the regulator had requested an action taken report from the airline after its July surveillance. Once Air India submitted the report, the regulator issued show cause notices to “concerned post holders”.
“Based on the review of the replies received, the airline has been directed not to assign any audits/surveillance/spot checks....to the particular auditor involved in the perfunctory inspections, which indicates lack of diligence,” the regulator’s statement added.
There have been two major safety violations at Air India in the last couple of months. The first instance is the aforementioned surveillance that was conducted by a two-member team of the regulator at the airline’s head office in Gurugram on July 25 and 26.
The team found that the airline allegedly fabricated reports in all 13 areas of internal safety checks, including cargo, ramp, and cabin surveillance.
In the second instance, the regulator had in August suspended Air India’s approved training organisation (ATO) licence. This halted operations for both its simulators, the Boeing simulator in Mumbai and the Airbus simulator in Hyderabad. This action was taken due to lapses identified during a spot check conducted by the regulator. Consequently, the certification and licence renewal processes for Air India’s pilots were suspended after DGCA’s intervention.
On September 7, the DGCA conditionally reactivated Air India’s ATO licence for 30 days after the airline rectified the deficiencies found during the spot check. The regulator also instructed the airline to conduct an internal audit of its simulators within this 30-day period and submit a report.
All pilots are required to undergo compulsory licence renewals every six months using a simulator.
They must also complete annual certification courses, including instrument rating, ground training refresher, and aviation security, using a simulator. Failure to undertake these certification courses and licence renewals prevents a pilot from operating a commercial flight.
As of August 1, Air India had 74 Airbus planes, and 53 Boeing aircraft in its fleet, according to aviation analytics firm Cirium.