In a report that is certain to have rattled India’s Civil Aviation authorities, global oversight body International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) has given India significantly lower safety ranking than its neighbours such as Pakistan and Sri lanka in its safety audit report of 2015.
Surprisingly, while on the one hand Delhi’s International Airport has been tagged as one of the “best airports” in the world, ICAO safety report reveals a different picture for Indian airports in terms of “Effective Implementation” (EI) in legislation, Air Navigation, Accident Investigation, licensing and Organisation.
In terms of Accident Investigation, i.e. an aircraft sustaining damage or structural failure during flight operation, EI is 34.26 per cent in India whereas Sri lanka and Pakistan have scored 90.72 per cent and 87.5 per cent respectively.
Notably, Effective Implementation of legislation in India stands at just 50 per cent, which is again very low as compared to China and other neighbouring countries.
When asked about the basis on which this audit report was prepared, Anthony Philibin, Chief Communication Officer of the Secretary General, ICAO said that under its Universal Safety Oversight Audit Programme (USOAP), ICAO confirms a Significant Safety Concern (SSC) with respect to a country’s oversight resources and procedures. When this occurs, the state in question is given a maximum of 15 days to undertake mitigating measures and implement a suitable Corrective Action Plan (CAP) to resolve the SSC and conform to required standards.
India’s Effective Implementation of Navigation Services as per ICAO standards is 68.75 per cent while that of Pakistan, Sri lanka, and China is 75, 84.38 and 87.11 respectively far outstripping India’s performance.
In Effective implementation of Organisation and Accidental Investigation, India scored a relatively poor 63.64 and 45.74 percent, according the world body’s safety audit.
The replies that The Pioneer got from the aviation authorities — Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MCA) and even members of the Parliamentary Standing Committee concerned — suggested that they haven’t studied the ICAO report.
Meanwhile, on condition of anonymity, a senior official of the Civil Aviation Ministry told The Pioneer that ICAO’s rating may be based on the kind of documents presented to them. “May be Pakistan and Sri lanka prepared better documents and records than we did and gave a better presentation before ICAO compared to us,” said the official.
However, a Hyderabad-based aviation safety consultant and air safety expert Captain Mohan Ranganathan said ICAO has found India well below the world average on Aerodromes (For licensing) and Accident Investigations. “There are several violations of ICAO Guidelines Annex 14, volume 1 Standards that are mandatory. Several runways do not have the mandatory Runway End Safety Areas (RESA) as well as the mandatory strip, runways which do not have the mandatory strip of 155m on either side have been permitted without operational restrictions,” said Ranganathan, who also served as former instructor pilot of Boeing 737and specialised in wet runway operations training.
He further said that several obstacles have also been permitted without adhering to the minimum safety standards.
“The DGCA has been carrying out Surveillance Safety Audits (SSA) and blindly clearing the aerodromes for licensing without ensuring minimum standards,” he said.
While explaining Accident Investigation, Capt Ranganathan stated that several cases have been swept under the carpet. Accident Investigations have not been done conforming to the minimum standards laid down in ICAO Annex 13. “Procedures to be followed in investigation, minimum time frame for preliminary reports and final reports have not been complied with. India has also not kept ICAO informed of accidents,” said Capt Rangananthan.
According to a Parliamentary Standing Committee report of 2013 on Civil Aviation Authority of India, DGCA is responsible for formulation, implementation, enforcement and monitoring of stipulated standards and regulations of air transport services from and within India, air safety, airworthiness and coordination of regulatory functions with the ICAO.
The standing committee report further stated that India, being signatory to the Chicago Convention 1944, is responsible for compliance of the Standards and Recommended Practices (SAPRs) in the annexure to the Chicago Convention, in aspects like training, licensing of personnel and airline operators and the primary responsibilities of DGCA are Safety oversight, regular audits and monitoring of operations of various entities. Many of these stipulated responsibilities appear to have been overlooked.