flyjet787
Feb 12, 12, 7:10 pm
http://www.livemint.com/2012/02/13005825/Jet-flouted-safety-norms-will.html?h=B
Jet flouted safety norms; will take action: DGCA
The regulator has summoned the airline’s chief of flight safety and the chief of operations on Monday after it received a complaint this month
Feb 13 2012
The aviation regulator has asked Jet Airways (India) Ltd to explain why it allowed a trainee pilot to land a packed flight in Mumbai in October, violating safety norms.
The regulator has summoned the airline’s chief of flight safety and the chief of operations on Monday after it received a complaint this month that the airline had failed to report to the regulator that a commander allowed a trainee pilot to land the flight.
Bharat Bhushan, director general of civil aviation, said the airline “hushed up” the case and promised to take action against the carrier’s executives.
“Such a serious matter where the supernumerary was asked to land a plane full of passengers...what can be more unsafe? We are surprised that we didn’t know about it. They hushed it up. This is completely unacceptable,” he said. “We have suspended the two pilots. We are going to take action against the airline, the people who were responsible for this, including the chief of safety.”
The regulator has the authority to terminate its approval for safety officials of the country’s largest airline by passengers carried.
A supernumerary pilot is someone who has just finished his flying school training. Such a trainee pilot is taken on board to observe procedures and learn the dynamics of flying a bigger jet.
The 5 February complaint to the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) had asked if “the airline inform(ed) the DGCA of this serious violation? If they did, what action did DGCA take and was this recorded in the list of violations in the safety audit conducted? If they did not report this to the DGCA, what action will DGCA take against the pilot and the airline?” Mint has reviewed a copy of the letter.
An airline is expected to voluntarily report safety issues to the regulator regularly, including minor snags. The incident raises questions on how many of such incidents are reported voluntarily by the airlines in India.
An email sent to a Jet Airways spokeswoman on Saturday remained unanswered. The company’s spokespersons did not answer calls and text messages sent on Sunday.
The event comes two months after DGCA’s audit of airlines found that some airlines were not reporting incidents to the regulator.
In case of Jet Airways, the audit report had noted that the airline did not have enough trainers for regulatory requirements, had a backlog of pilots and cabin crew who need training, international stations were “not audited by the flight safety department for the last two consecutive years” and the airline had not recruited pilots to cater for the 2011 operational plan.
An expert said the landing by a trainee pilot was an extremely serious offence that should result in the firing of the officials involved and the airline should be severely reprimanded.
“Anything that is done against regulations on the flight deck is considered a disregard for safety, and therefore, is a serious offence. That is why rules have been made in concert with DGCA and designed to safeguard the aircraft, its crew and passengers,” said Steve Forte, a former chief executive of Jet Airways. “The airline should fire the captain. Any incident must be reported to the office of DGCA. If it is not done, the offence becomes even more serious, and when DGCA finds out, there can be a very heavy fine imposed on the airline, a suspension for the captain in question and maybe even the firing of the director of flight operations.”
“About four months back, Jet Airways captain Sheikh Ahmed was operating a flight into Mumbai along with F/O (flight officer) Khajuria (co-pilot). There was a supernumerary pilot on board. I understand that the captain asked the first officer to vacate his seat and he permitted the supernumerary pilot to occupy the right seat for the landing,” said the 5 February complaint. “This is a very serious violation and endangers the lives of all on board. I understand Khajuria gave a written complaint. There appears to be an intervention from someone to soften the action against the captain, who was merely suspended for three months and is now back to flying as a captain.”
A supernumerary pilot has usually only flown a single-engine Cessna 172, which has a gross weight of about 1,000kg, and is not trained to fly a modern twin-engine jets such as the Boeing 737-800 that weighs about 79,000kg.
A supernumerary pilot is not equipped to handle even a minor emergency without training.
The supernumerary flights are part of the learning process to observe and get used to the speed of events before undergoing simulator training.
The other major factor is that there are mandatory call-outs on final approaches that a co-pilot has to give. The untrained pilot will not be in a position to do that, nor will the person be able to spot any deviations from a safe flight path.
Jet flouted safety norms; will take action: DGCA
The regulator has summoned the airline’s chief of flight safety and the chief of operations on Monday after it received a complaint this month
Feb 13 2012
The aviation regulator has asked Jet Airways (India) Ltd to explain why it allowed a trainee pilot to land a packed flight in Mumbai in October, violating safety norms.
The regulator has summoned the airline’s chief of flight safety and the chief of operations on Monday after it received a complaint this month that the airline had failed to report to the regulator that a commander allowed a trainee pilot to land the flight.
Bharat Bhushan, director general of civil aviation, said the airline “hushed up” the case and promised to take action against the carrier’s executives.
“Such a serious matter where the supernumerary was asked to land a plane full of passengers...what can be more unsafe? We are surprised that we didn’t know about it. They hushed it up. This is completely unacceptable,” he said. “We have suspended the two pilots. We are going to take action against the airline, the people who were responsible for this, including the chief of safety.”
The regulator has the authority to terminate its approval for safety officials of the country’s largest airline by passengers carried.
A supernumerary pilot is someone who has just finished his flying school training. Such a trainee pilot is taken on board to observe procedures and learn the dynamics of flying a bigger jet.
The 5 February complaint to the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) had asked if “the airline inform(ed) the DGCA of this serious violation? If they did, what action did DGCA take and was this recorded in the list of violations in the safety audit conducted? If they did not report this to the DGCA, what action will DGCA take against the pilot and the airline?” Mint has reviewed a copy of the letter.
An airline is expected to voluntarily report safety issues to the regulator regularly, including minor snags. The incident raises questions on how many of such incidents are reported voluntarily by the airlines in India.
An email sent to a Jet Airways spokeswoman on Saturday remained unanswered. The company’s spokespersons did not answer calls and text messages sent on Sunday.
The event comes two months after DGCA’s audit of airlines found that some airlines were not reporting incidents to the regulator.
In case of Jet Airways, the audit report had noted that the airline did not have enough trainers for regulatory requirements, had a backlog of pilots and cabin crew who need training, international stations were “not audited by the flight safety department for the last two consecutive years” and the airline had not recruited pilots to cater for the 2011 operational plan.
An expert said the landing by a trainee pilot was an extremely serious offence that should result in the firing of the officials involved and the airline should be severely reprimanded.
“Anything that is done against regulations on the flight deck is considered a disregard for safety, and therefore, is a serious offence. That is why rules have been made in concert with DGCA and designed to safeguard the aircraft, its crew and passengers,” said Steve Forte, a former chief executive of Jet Airways. “The airline should fire the captain. Any incident must be reported to the office of DGCA. If it is not done, the offence becomes even more serious, and when DGCA finds out, there can be a very heavy fine imposed on the airline, a suspension for the captain in question and maybe even the firing of the director of flight operations.”
“About four months back, Jet Airways captain Sheikh Ahmed was operating a flight into Mumbai along with F/O (flight officer) Khajuria (co-pilot). There was a supernumerary pilot on board. I understand that the captain asked the first officer to vacate his seat and he permitted the supernumerary pilot to occupy the right seat for the landing,” said the 5 February complaint. “This is a very serious violation and endangers the lives of all on board. I understand Khajuria gave a written complaint. There appears to be an intervention from someone to soften the action against the captain, who was merely suspended for three months and is now back to flying as a captain.”
A supernumerary pilot has usually only flown a single-engine Cessna 172, which has a gross weight of about 1,000kg, and is not trained to fly a modern twin-engine jets such as the Boeing 737-800 that weighs about 79,000kg.
A supernumerary pilot is not equipped to handle even a minor emergency without training.
The supernumerary flights are part of the learning process to observe and get used to the speed of events before undergoing simulator training.
The other major factor is that there are mandatory call-outs on final approaches that a co-pilot has to give. The untrained pilot will not be in a position to do that, nor will the person be able to spot any deviations from a safe flight path.