When Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, Union law minister Veerappa Moily, and Airports Authority of India chairman V.P. Agarwal stood proudly at Mangalore on May 15 for inauguration of the airport's new terminal, they had no idea that disaster was a week away.
In many ways, Mangalore airport served the new upwardly mobile India and was frequented by immigrants from neighbouring North Kerala who made their fortunes in the Gulf. Less than a week later, on May 22, Air India Express Flight 182 from Dubai, carrying 166 people flew into Bajpe airport. With disastrous consequences. All but eight survived the crash.
Amid the promise of building swanky airports that would serve the new India of the 21st century, it took the tragedy of the Mangalore air-crash for the Government to take a hard look at air-safety this week. The Mangalore airport, where the tragedy took place, is built on hilly terrain with thenew runway constructed by flattening a hill-top.
The state-run Airports Authority of India (AAI), which operates the airport, was quick to point out that the airport and its runway met all international specifications and was licensed in every respect. The AAI also argued that table-top airports were constructed the world over and were perfectly safe. The new runway for instance, inaugurated in 2006, had seen a whopping 32,000 landings.
Top civil aviation ministry sources have maintained that all indications point to human error — on the part of the foreign Serbian-born pilot who also perished in the tragedy. Nevertheless, the DGCA is carrying out a full probe into all aspects including the Mangalore airport. The government has also set up a Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council (CASAC) to review safety standards.
National Carrier Air India also set the record straight when its Chairman and Managing Director Arvind Jadhav pointed out that the ill-fated aircraft that crashed was a relatively new one and just two and a half years old. Air India also pointed out that the pilot and co-pilot of the aircraft were very experienced pilots who had made several previous landings at Mangalore and had more than sufficient rest ahead of the flight.
Airports Authority of India chairman V.P. Agarwal told this newspaper that the runway and all of its equipment was in perfect working order. “We have found that there was nothing wrong with any aspect of the airport,” he said, pointing out that the runway itself was 8,000 ft. long with an additional runway safety area of 90 metres beyond that. A Boeing 737-800 requires about 6,000 ft to land safely.
The AAI chairman further maintained that all aspects such as the calibration of the instrument landing system were in order. The Mangalore airport is due for a renewal of certification by the DGCA next month. The AAI also feels there is no reason not to go in for construction of such table-top runways in future. “Many pilots feel safe while landing at table-top airports as there is no obstruction around in the form of buildings,” AAI sources say.
The AAI is developing 35 non-metro airports in the country besides the metro airports of Kolkata and Chennai and points out that equipment such as the ILS and Aeronautical Ground Lights (AGL) for night-landing at its airports is periodically checked.
In a letter to all AAI employees, Mr. Agarwal praised the ‘professional andproficient’ way in which the AAI employees at Mangalore responded in the wake of the tragedy and said it was “the result of proper documentation, meticulously following the standard operating procedures and carrying out mock drills regularly”.
Despite protestations to the contrary, concerns remain about India’s aviation safety scenario. Early last year, the American Federal Aviation Agency (FAA) had found India’s aviation regulator DGCA deficient in ‘establishment of an on-going surveillance programme of air operators and the resolution of identified safety issues’ and had given the DGCA five months to get its act together. As the government itself admitted last year, ‘repercussions of non-action could have resulted in India being downgraded to category 2 status from the category 1’. Airlines belonging to countries that fall under the FAA’s category 2 cannot expand their operations to the US. But the DGCA saved its skin by working furiously to fill up vacancies for technical personnel and getting personnel on deputation from private airlines. The result was that India remained in the FAA’s category 1. Nevertheless, the government is planning to restructure the DGCA itself.
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FOREIGN PILOTS
Apart from questions over how sound, the airport infrastructure is and whether there is adequate monitoring of air-safety by regulatory agencies, the Mangalore tragedy has also brought into focus the role of pilots.
The actions of the foreign commander who piloted the ill-fated aircraft and overshot the runway on that fateful day last Saturday is under close scrutiny. Despite the stern opposition of Indian pilot unions, the Government argues that it has approved an extension in employment to foreign pilots by one year till July 31 next year due to shortage of experienced commanders to fly certain types of aircraft. There are about 560 foreign pilots flying aircraft with Indian carriers in the country out of which about 150 are with Air India and fly on international routes. Foreign pilots are recruited through certain companies which charge the airlines a fee for their services. Indian pilots allege that some of these companies are run by relatives of former airline officials and that the practice ought to be stopped. But an aviation expert who did not want to be quoted on the matter said that there was no other way out since, otherwise, each foreign pilot would start bargaining for his salary independently leading to pay disparities among pilots and dissatisfaction. The government told Parliament recently that both Indian and foreign pilots get the same remuneration although Indian pilots have always alleged that the foreigners are paid more.
To make matters worse, most Indian pilots have always been critical about the communication skills of pilots hailing from central and eastern Europe and last Saturday's crash with the Serbian-born foreign pilot at the helm hasn't helped erase these
doubts.