The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has taken strong exception to several defects at major airports and airlines and directed them to rectify the flaws within seven days. The regulator, however, refrained from disclosing the names of airlines and airports.
From a faded centre line marking of a runway at an airport to non-updation of obstruction limitation data for three years to rapid taxiway flaws and unidirectional lighting issues to ground handling equipment’s such as baggage trollies, BFL, were found unserviceable, the DGCA came across multiple defects in the aviation ecosystem.
Two teams led by the Joint Director General, DGCA carried out comprehensive surveillance during night and early morning hours at major airports, including Delhi and Mumbai. The surveillance covered multiple critical areas such as flight operations, airworthiness, ramp safety, air traffic control (ATC), communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS) systems and pre-flight medical evaluations. Throughout the surveillance, ground activities and aircraft movements were closely monitored to check the compliance of regulatory requirements and to identify weak areas for improvement.
During the surveillance, domestic flight of a scheduled carrier was found to be held up due to worn tyres and was released only after the required rectification. There were multiple cases wherein the reported defects reappeared many times on aircraft, indicating ineffective monitoring and inadequate rectification.
In a detailed statement about the surveillance findings, DGCA listed multiple cases wherein the reported defects reappeared many times on the aircraft indicating ineffective monitoring and inadequate rectification. “During maintenance, safety precautions found not (to have been) taken by AME (Aircraft Maintenance Engineer) as per AMM (Aircraft Maintenance Manual); at places, AME was not attending to the snag rectification; defect reports generated by the aircraft system, were not found recorded in the technical logbook,” the statement said.
Also, DGCA found that several life vests were not properly secured beneath their designated seats in aircraft and the corrosion-resistant tape on the right-hand side winglet’s lower blade was found to be damaged. At an airport, centre line marking of a runway was observed faded and the rapid exit taxiway, green centre light was not unidirectional. The obstruction limitation data was found to have not been updated for last three years and no survey has been performed despite many new constructions around the vicinity of aerodrome, DGCA said.
However, names of the airports were not disclosed. “A number of vehicles in the ramp area were found without speed governors. These vehicles were withdrawn by cancelling their AVP and drivers ADP were suspended,” the statement said.
Further, the regulator said a simulator was found not matching with the aircraft configuration and that the software was not updated to the current version. Besides, a domestic flight of a scheduled carrier was held up due to worn tyres and it was released only after the required rectification was done, it added.
DGCA emphasised that it has initiated a focused assessment of the aviation ecosystem to strengthen safety measures across the sector. “Throughout the surveillance, ground activities and aircraft movements were closely monitored to check the compliance of regulatory requirements and to identify weak areas for improvement,” the statement said. The surveillance, which comes against the backdrop of the fatal Air India plane crash at Ahmedabad on June 12, covered critical areas such as flight operations, airworthiness, ramp safety, air traffic control, communication, navigation systems and pre-flight medical evaluations.