Glitches in Planes: DGCA Conducts Spot Checks, Says All Aircraft Should be Released Only After Certifying Licence

An aircraft is checked and certified by an aircraft maintenance engineer (AME) before each departure. The DGCA has now issued guidelines for airlines on the deployment of AME personnel and directed them to comply by July 28.

Written by: India.com News Desk Edited by: Priyanka

Published: July 18, 2022, 11:40 PM IST

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International Flights Latest News: After easing restrictions, the UAE has announced new guidelines for international air passengers.

New Delhi: The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday said all the aircraft at base and transit stations should be released by certifying staff holding licence with appropriate authorisation by their organisation. The aviation regulator’s directive has come following a series of technical snag related occurrences in planes in the last few days.

The DGCA said that after frequent reports of engineering related occurrences in several airlines, it has conducted several spot checks in order to ensure that airlines are adhering to the laid down standards. The spot check has disclosed improper identification of cause of a reported defect, increasing trend of minimum equipment list — MEL releases, and non-availability of required certifying staff to cater to multiple arrivals and departure of flights in short intervals.

Aviation watchdog sets July 28 deadline for compliance

“It has also been seen that airlines are resorting to frequent one-off authorisation to category A certifying staff at transit stations which are not in line with existing regulatory provisions. Keeping above in view, it has been decided that all aircrafts at base and transit stations shall be released by certifying staff holding AME category B1/B2 license with appropriate authorisation by their organisations,” the aviation watchdog said. The DGCA has asserted that compliance to this should be ensured by July 28, 2022.

Decision after Civil Aviation Minister’s meetings with chiefs of Indian airlines

Earlier on Monday, concerned over the rising number of technical glitches in the flights, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia held meetings with chiefs of Indian airlines on Monday, asking them to strengthen safety oversight. Sources said that the aviation minister told each airline to take all necessary steps that are needed to ramp up safety oversight.

There have been multiple technical malfunction incidents in Indian carriers’ planes during the last one month. Here are a few major ones:

• On Sunday, IndiGo’s Sharjah-Hyderabad flight was diverted to Karachi as a precautionary measure after pilots observed a defect in one of the engines.
• On Saturday night, the Calicut-Dubai flight of the Air India Express was diverted to Muscat after a burning smell was observed in the cabin mid-air.
• A day earlier a bird, which was alive, was found in the cockpit of the Air India Express Bahrain-Kochi flight.
• SpiceJet is under regulatory scanner right now. On July 6, the DGCA issued a show-cause notice to SpiceJet following at least eight incidents of technical malfunction in its aircraft since June 19.
• The DGCA is currently investigating all these incidents.

(With agency inputs)