The Director General of Civil Aviation, which has only 32 flight inspection pilots currently, is filling up hundreds of vacancies to technical positions.
As part of its warning to airlines on Wednesday, “the DGCA has asked all operators (airlines) to ensure that ‘correct’ landings are aimed (at) by pilots rather than a
chieving soft landings at lower ‘G’ (gravity) values that may compromise the runway stopping distance required”. In another warning, it has stated that “certain operators need to guard against imposing much lower (gravity) values in their Flight Operations Quality Assurance (FOQA) programmes”. When asked whether Air India Express had issued circulars to pilots warning them against hard landings, an Air India Express spokesperson told this newspaper the airline had not pressured its pilots.
The DGCA stated that “an attempt to cushion a ‘decent’ landing to make a soft landing could result in a delayed touchdown that would need harsh deceleration to maintain the aircraft on the runway or, even worse, a runway excursion with possible catastrophic results”.
The DGCA has also stated that in case the approach of the aircraft is “unstable”, the pilot should “go around” and make another attempt for a safe landing. Pilots have been ordered to strictly adhere to standard operating procedures.
The DGCA issued the fresh directives even as civil aviation minister Praful Patel is all set to “inaugurate” the first meeting of the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council on Thursday.
In response to yet another recent incident when a second Air India Express aircraft dropped altitude by several thousand feet due to alleged inaction of the co-pilot when the pilot left the cockpit to use the washroom, the DGCA said that if one of the pilots leaves the cockpit, one of the cabin crew should occupy the observer’s seat in the cockpit. The DGCA also stated that the pilot remaining in the cockpit “shall wear shoulder harness and headset and maintain high level of alertness and situational awareness” as well as have “unobstructed access to the flight controls”.
The DGCA has also stipulated other conditions, such as locking of the flight deck door when one of the pilots leaves the cockpit and sterility of the forward galley area during the absence. In this recent incident of the Air India Express flight from Dubai to Pune, the pilot, after rushing back from the washroom, was unable to enter the locked door since the co-pilot did not open it. The pilot then entered by punching in the security code. It seems there may not have been a cabin crew member inside. The regulator, meanwhile, also announced spot checks of aircraft on the tarmac and inspection of systems and facilities at airports.