13th April 2011

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recently ordered four carriers to de-roster 12 pilots for operating flights to Goa's Dabolim Airport and violating air-safety norms. According to a report in The Economic Times, on April 11, 2011, six flights were operated by these carriers to Dabolim between 3 PM and 5.30 PM although the airlines and their pilots were aware that a mandatory landing aid was not operational during this time because of repairs on the runway. The  DGCA had warned airlines against operating flights without the landing aid. 

Four pilots of Kingfisher Airlines, four of GoAir and two each of Jet Airways and Jetlite will be de-rostered for operating from Dabolim without the Precision Approach Path Indicator (PAPI) - a visual landing aid which gives guidance on the descent angle to a pilot during approach and landing. 

According to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) and DGCA norms, jet aircraft like Boeing 737s and A320s should not operate from airports that do not have a functional PAPI. Although PAPI only assists landing aircraft, take-offs are also banned as a flight might need to make an emergency landing immediately after take-off. 

Bharat Bhushan, Director General, DGCA said, “I've told the four airlines to de-roster the cockpit crew that operated to Goa without PAPI.”  

Although it is the airlines that are primarily responsible for forcing pilots to fly to Goa disregarding DGCA instructions, it's the pilots who will be the first to bear the brunt of the disciplinary action as, according to the Indian Aircraft Act, the commander or the co-pilot should not exercise the privileges of their licences (the Airline Transport Pilot Licence and Commercial Pilot Licence) in violation of air-safety rules. 

Airlines, too, will face the music as they have been asked to explain the violations of the PAPI mandatory air-safety norm.

"travelbizmonitor"