Air India: DGCA audit report finds 100 safety lapses, training, and crew gaps
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation identified 100 safety lapses at Air India in its July audit. No chief pilots had been appointed for the Airbus A320 and A350 fleets.
New Delhi: India's aviation watchdog, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation(DGCA) on Tuesday submitted a report identifying 100 safety lapses at Air India in its July audit. The report included faults such as inadequate pilot training, use of simulators not approved by authorities, a faulty rostering system and so on.
Even as the audit report is not linked to the recent Boeing 787 crash in Ahmedabad that claimed lives of 260 people, it comes at a time of increased scrutiny for the airline. The audit team, consisted of 10 inspectors and four additional auditors, criticised the airline’s rostering software for not issuing strong alerts when there was a shortage of crew members.
The 11-page-long confidential report revealed that there were "recurrent training gaps” in a few Boeing 787 and 777 pilots. These pilots reportedly failed to complete compulsory observation duties for efficiently monitoring cockpit instruments before their periodic evaluations.
Irregular door checks, faulty simulators, insufficient trainings...
The report further criticised the Air India authorities for allegedly using faulty simulators in its "Category C" airports (airports with difficult layouts or surrounding terrain) for providing training in those airports. "This may account for non-consideration of safety risks during approaches to challenging airports,” the report added.
The DGCA audit also criticised the crucial matter of crew fatigue management. A few days ago, a Milan-to-Delhi flight operated by Air India surpassed the legal flight-duty time limit by 2 hours and 18 minutes, which was identified as a "Level I” violation.
The report further highlighted irregularities in "door checks and equipment checks” and spotted incomplete training records. Also, no chief pilots had been appointed for the Airbus A320 and A350 fleets.
Air India responds
In response, Air India issued a statement declaring it had been "fully transparent” during the audit and would "submit our response to the regulator within the stipulated time frame, along with the details of the corrective actions," news agency Reuters quoted Air India as saying.