NEW DELHI: Stopping an aircraft with worn out tyres from taking off and allowing it to do so only after changing the same to finding the centre line of a major airport’s runway faded. Ineffective repairs carried out on aircraft leading to recurrence of snags and vehicles on tarmac without speed governors. The DGCA’s ongoing audit of the “Indian aviation ecosystem” is already throwing up several such findings. “This process of comprehensive surveillance will continue in future to detect hazards in the system,” said a senior official.The audit was announced on June 19 and since then two teams of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) led by joint DGs have fanned out at major airports including Delhi’s IGIA and Mumbai’s CSMIA for a “focussed assessment”.Transparently sharing some of the findings, the regulator said:
- A domestic flight of a scheduled carrier was held up due to worn tyres and it was released only after the required rectification was carried out.
- (There were) multiple cases where reported defects re-appeared many times on aircraft indicating ineffective monitoring and inadequate rectification action on the defects/ repeated defects
- Ground handling equipment’s such as baggage trollies were found unserviceable
- Line maintenance stores, tool control procedures were not followed
- During maintenance of aircraft, the work order was not followed
- The unserviceable thrust reverser system and Flap Slat Lever were not locked; during maintenance
- Safety precautions found not taken by aircraft maintenance engineers (AMEs in some places). AME was not attending to the snag rectification
- Defect reports generated by the aircraft system, were not found recorded in the technical logbook
- Several life vests were not properly secured beneath their designated seats
- At an airport, centre line marking of runway was observed faded
- The rapid exit taxiway, green centre light were not unidirectional
- The obstruction limitation data has not been updated for last three years and no survey has been performed despite many new construction around the vicinity of aerodrome
- Number of vehicles in the ramp area were found without speed governors. These vehicles were withdrawn by cancelling there AVP and drivers ADP were suspended.
“A simulator was checked and found not matching with the aircraft configuration. Also the software was not updated to the current version,” the DGCA said in a statement.“All the findings observed during the surveillance have been communicated to the concerned operators for taking necessary corrective actions within seven days.”The critical areas under surveillance include: 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,” an official said.The action comes after the DGCA on June 19 ordered a focused assessment of the aviation ecosystem to strengthen safety measures across the sector.