Admitting the “strange wording” of its own rules on air-ambulance operations, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) — after much deliberation — has finally decided that single-engine aircraft can indeed operate as
medical evacuation flights in the domestic sector as well, top DGCA sources have told this newspaper. The wording of the current rules may soon be corrected accordingly by the DGCA to clear the “confusion” and a circular is likely to be issued soon on this.
The DGCA’s decision and clarity on the issue now means that Air Charter Services Pvt. Ltd., the company which operated the ill-fated single engine aircraft that crashed at Faridabad recently is now in the clear over its medical evacuation flight operation on that day from Patna to Delhi which was a domestic flight.
For instance, one of the rules states, “Operations with single-engine aeroplanes shall be conducted only on domestic sectors except for medical evacuation flights ...” which was interpreted by the authorities initially to mean that single-engine aircraft cannot operate as medical evacuation flights in the domestic sector.
Another rule states that “Single-engine aircraft will not be allowed to operate to international destinations except for medical evacuation flights” which means the medical evacuation flights on single-engine aircraft can operate on international routes.
“But if the two rules are read together, it can be interpreted that single-engine aircraft can fly as medical evacuation flights not just on domestic routes but also on international routes,” DGCA sources said.
“The strange wording of the rules is unfortunate,” admitted a top DGCA source.