The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) recently carried out comprehensive surveillance at major airports and flagged multiple flaws such as faded centre-line markings on runways, green centre lights not unidirectional, and worn aircraft tyres.

According to the DGCA, the findings have been communicated to the operators concerned for necessary corrective measures within seven days.

The DGCA, without specifying any particular airport and inspection date, flagged multiple lapses during the surveillance. It pointed out that the rapid exit taxiway, which helps in making aircraft easier to exit the runway, and the green centre lights used for navigation were not unidirectional at a few airports.

“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,” the DGCA said without naming the carrier.

It also said that the number of vehicles in the ramp area were found without speed regulators, and several life vests were missing from their designated seats.

The inspection team also found that the obstruction limitation data, used as part of the airport’s safeguarding strategy to ensure that obstacles do not interfere with operations, has not been updated for the last three years, and no survey has been conducted despite many new constructions around the vicinity of the aerodrome.

The DGCA said that the defects, reappearing several times on an aircraft, indicate ineffective monitoring and inadequate rectification action. Ground handling equipment, such as baggage trollies, was found unserviceable, and line maintenance stores and tool control procedures were not followed. During the maintenance of aircraft, the work order was not followed, it said.

The aviation watchdog also highlighted several technical issues, such as aircraft maintenance engineering not attending to snag rectification and not adhering to safety precautions. Some defect reports generated by the aircraft system were not found recorded in the technical logbook.

The surveillance was part of the DGCA’s initiative on focused assessment of the aviation ecosystem to strengthen safety measures. Two teams carried out the comprehensive surveillance at major airports, including the Delhi and Mumbai facilities.

The surveillance came against the backdrop of the Air India AI171 plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12. It covered multiple critical areas such as flight operations, airworthiness, ramp safety, air traffic control, communication, navigation and surveillance systems, and pre-flight medical evaluations.

Civil aviation minister K. Rammohan Naidu described as speculation claims that the black box of the crashed aircraft would be sent abroad. According to PTI, Naidu said: “...It is all speculation. The black box is very much in India, and it is currently being investigated by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.”