Three aviation emergencies within 24 hours have cast domestic air travel in an unflattering light and raised serious questions about aircraft maintenance and regulatory supervision.
Seven people on board an air ambulance were killed after it crashed near Simaria in Jharkhand’s Chatra district on Monday evening. On Tuesday morning, a helicopter crashlanded into the sea near the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and a SpiceJet flight from Delhi to Leh made an emergency landing after facing a technical issue.
The accidents have set off discussions on flight safety, prompting aviation experts to flag poor aircraft maintenance and gaps in monitoring by the understaffed Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
Air ambulance crash
A Redbird Airways-operated Beechcraft C90 air ambulance headed to Delhi from Ranchi crashed on Monday evening at Simaria in Bariatu, killing all seven people on board, including the two pilots.
This is the second fatal incident involving a non-scheduled operator within a month. An aircraft operated by VSR Ventures had crashed near Baramati on January 28, killing Maharashtra deputy chief Minister Ajit Pawar and four others.
Ranchi airport director Vinod Kumar told PTI that inclement weather could have led to the air ambulance crash.
The aircraft lost contact with air traffic control (ATC) about 20 minutes after departure from Ranchi airport at 7.11pm. According to the DGCA, the pilots were able to establish contact with the Calcutta ATC and requested a deviation owing to bad weather. The aircraft lost communication and radar contact with Calcutta and around 100 nautical miles south-east of Varanasi at 7.34pm.
Helicopter accident
A Pawan Hans helicopter carrying seven people crashed into the sea just 300 metres from its scheduled landing at Mayabunder helipad in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Tuesday, officials said.
All five passengers and two crew members were rescued from mid-sea and admitted to a hospital.
The crash occurred around 9.30am after the chopper took off from Rangat in the North and Middle Andaman district, officials said.
“A preliminary inquiry revealed that there was some technical snag, and the pilot made a crash-landing on the sea,” a senior civil aviation official said.
SpiceJet glitch
A Boeing 737 aircraft belonging to SpiceJet headed for Leh returned to Delhi and made an emergency landing after developing a glitch in the engine on Tuesday, according to sources.
“The flight returned to Delhi after experiencing a technical issue. The aircraft landed safely in Delhi, and all passengers were disembarked. There was no fire warning in the cockpit,” a SpiceJet spokesperson said.
Lapses
Captain C.S. Randhawa, president of the Federation of Indian Pilots, underlined poor aircraft maintenance and regulatory oversight. “Redbird and VSR have poor safety records. Internal air safety of certain operators is poor, causing such accidents,” he told The Telegraph.
Another aviation professional, who did not want to be named, said the DGCA was facing an acute staff crisis and several officials lacked domain expertise. The professional suggested engaging retired aviation specialists or people with knowledge of the sector to curb such incidents.
Grounded
The DGCA on Tuesday decided to ground four VSR Ventures-operated Learjet aircraft, the model that crashed in Baramati last month, until their airworthiness standards are restored.
The aviation watchdog also issued multiple safety guidelines for non-scheduled operators to prevent such accidents.
A DGCA-ordered safety audit of VSR Ventures after the Baramati crash had detected non-compliance with approved procedures related to airworthiness, air safety and flight operations.
“In view of the non-compliances observed and considering the gaps in maintenance procedures it is decided to initiate the corrective measures by immediately grounding Learjet 40/45 aircraft with registration VT-VRA, VT-VRS, VT-VRV, and VT-TRI till continued airworthiness standards are restored,” the DGCA said on Tuesday.
The regulator also conducted a meeting with non-scheduled operators and directed them to disclose critical safety information on their websites, including aircraft age and maintenance history. “This ensures that customers are fully informed about the standards of the aircraft they charter,” the DGCA said.
Emphasising that safety must remain the utmost priority, the DGCA said the pilot-in-command’s decision to divert, delay or cancel a flight was final and must be respected by operators.
Noting that weather-related accidents often resulted from poor judgement, the DGCA directed operators to establish real-time weather update systems and ensure strict compliance with established standard procedures. Recurrent training of pilots must place greater emphasis on weather awareness strategies and decision-making in uncontrolled environments, the regulator said.
The DGCA clarified that safety lapses could not only be blamed on pilots, adding that managers and senior officials of operating companies would be personally held responsible for systemic non-compliance.
The watchdog said it would conduct random audits of cockpit voice recorders and check details such as fuel records and technical logs to detect unauthorised operations or falsification of data.
It also warned of licence suspensions of up to five years for pilots violating flight duty time limitations (FDTL) or attempting to land below safety minima (visibility and cloud base limits). The DGCA said it would also scrutinise the maintenance of aircraft by non-scheduled operators.
The DGCA said it was also planning to implement a safety ranking mechanism for all non-scheduled operators.