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memory Loss? A pilot failed to report to the DGCA that his aircraft skid off the runway at Mumbai airport. Representation PIC

The government's proposal to empower pilots to inspect their own aircraft, and report air safety violations in Indian skies has failed miserably, with many pilots not reporting errors.

Last week, MiD DAY had reported how foreign pilots were flying aircrafts in Indian skies without renewing their airport entry passes.

However, the incident that forced the government to do a rethink of the proposal was when a pilot failed to report that his aircraft skid off the runway at Mumbai airport. On October 16, a Jet Airways' Singapore-Mumbai flight skid off the runway after landing at Mumbai airport.

The pilot failed to report the matter to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and promptly took off on the return journey. "Though such an incident requires that the wheels be inspected and if required replaced, the pilot merely cleaned the wheels and flew back to Singapore," said Kanu Gohain, director general, DGCA. To ensure that reporting an error is a simple procedure, the regulatory body had put up a one-click incident reporting system on its website. That too did not work.

While a report from the Jet Airways pilot (also the chief flying instructor for the airline) would have made the investigation simpler, hiding facts has forced the Mumbai International Airport Ltd (MIAL) officials to carry out an examination on all wide-bodied aircraft parked in Mumbai.

Pilot grounded

"The DGCA, which took over investigations after a report from the MIAL, later discovered that the aircraft was an Airbus 330 and that it had flown back violating prescribed rules," a Jet Airways official said. While the engineer who cleared the flight to return to Singapore was penalised, the foreign pilot was grounded.

The ministry for civil aviation is also concerned with pilots boarding and flying with expired security passes. "None of the other pilots who were aware of these violations passed on the information to us," added Gohain.

Airlines deroster 30 foreign pilots
Days after MiD DAY reported (Pilots breach security norm, November 7) that foreign pilots were operating with expired entry passes, major airlines have begun derostering foreign pilots. Aviation sources claimed that major airlines had derostered about 30 foreign pilots over the weekend because their airport entry passes had expired. "We have been informed that derosted pilots are those against whom action was being contemplated by the DGCA," said Kanu Gohain, director general, DGCA.