‘Aircraft systems are reasonably robust, have sufficient redundancies’: aviation regulator’s Director General Arun Kumar

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is enhancing its surveillance on airways to minimise technical malfunction incidents which have plagued Indian carriers over the previous few months, the aviation regulator’s Director General Arun Kumar informed Pranav Mukul in an interview. Kumar additionally defined why there was a sudden improve within the variety of such occurrences. Edited excerpts:

Why has there been an increase in safety-related incidents on board Indian plane?

We are overreacting and possibly panicking an excessive amount of. Aircraft programs are fairly strong and have ample redundancies, which allow them to tide over exigencies. To our institutional data, the form of technical glitches, which have engaged our consideration past all measure and have been portrayed as life-threatening/disastrous, are literally routine and do occur in all airways the world over for all form of plane varieties for the straightforward cause that the machine is analogous and regular put on/tear is inevitable .

What is required is that as flight crew, it’s essential to be alert, vigilant and reply to conditions as they unfold and if you happen to comply with the usual working procedures, you possibly can navigate with out compromising security.

It means if on floor, you attend to signs of snag earlier than continuing additional and if in air, do the guidelines actions appropriately and, if required, search a precedence, precautionary or emergency touchdown because the case could also be. Remember, all these are security valves and should be pressed in motion to keep away from an precise security subject. Yes, it could lead to delays, diversions, cancellation inflicting inconvenience, however won’t trigger irreparable hurt.

Is there a rise within the reportage of those incidents?

Safety manoeuvres are a part of a security administration system and should be welcomed. A missed method or rejected take-off shouldn’t be seen as a security subject as they strengthen security. We ought to fear about precise points corresponding to critical incidents or accidents as outlined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and never for regular hen hits with no penalties. I need to place on document our appreciation for our pilots, who’ve proven exemplary competence and have negotiated such snags with confidence and haven’t compromised security.

What steps is DGCA taking to forestall these occurrences?

We, on our half, are doing every part attainable to minimise such occasions by means of enhanced surveillance. All regulatory companies comply with comparable protocol and we are not any exception. We imagine that we can arrest the pattern prior to later. Some occasions should still occur, which we’ll take care of as per the laiddown procedures.

Could Covid-19 have performed a job in why these snags have gotten extra prevalent?

The causes for rising variety of technical snags look like Covid-related, which impacted airline operations resulting from lockdown and curtailed operations, and so on. Also, there’s a common drawback of manpower scarcity after Covid-19, not simply with one airline or one nation.