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The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has flagged several safety lapses in Air India’s operations as a part of its annual audit of the airline. These findings are unrelated to the recent Air India AI-171 plane crash. According to a government document reviewed by Reuters, the safety related shortcomings include insufficient pilot training programmes, utilisation of non-authorised flight simulators, and poor rostering procedures.Owned by the Tata Group, Air India has already received warning notices due to multiple safety violations. These include operating aircraft without proper emergency equipment inspection, delayed engine component replacements, forging records, and inadequate management of crew fatigue issues, according to the Reuters report.
Air India Safety Lapses: Top Points
- A confidential assessment report from DGCA, spanning 11 pages, identified seven critical “Level I” violations requiring resolution by July 30, alongside 44 additional compliance issues that must be addressed by August 23, according to the Reuters report.
- According to officials, they discovered consistent training deficiencies among certain Boeing 787 and 777 pilots, who failed to fulfil their monitoring responsibilities – involving observation of cockpit instrument operations without actual flying – prior to required periodic assessments.
- The officials highlighted safety and operational concerns in their report, noting that Air India failed to conduct appropriate route evaluations for certain Category C airports, which are known for their complex layouts or challenging terrain.
- Additionally, the training provided for these airfields utilised simulators that fell short of required qualification standards. The DGCA audit report indicated that this oversight could lead to inadequate safety consideration during approaches to these challenging airports.
- DGCA has repeatedly raised issues regarding Air India pilots exceeding their permitted flight-duty timings. According to the audit findings, an Air India Boeing 787 flight from Milan to New Delhi surpassed the limit by 2 hours and 18 minutes, which was classified as a “Level I” violation.
- The report highlighted deficiencies in the airline’s crew scheduling system, noting its failure to issue strong warnings when flights were understaffed. The audit revealed that at least four international routes operated with insufficient cabin crew members.
What Air India Has Said
Air India told Reuters that the airline maintained complete transparency throughout the audit process. The airline confirmed they would provide their response to the regulatory body within the specified timeframe, including details of remedial actions.Air India operates a fleet comprising 34 Boeing 787s and 23 Boeing 777s, as per data from Flightradar24 website.The DGCA inspection was carried out by a team of 14 officials, comprising 10 DGCA inspectors and four additional auditors.
Source: Times of India
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