Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Govt figures show 35 near-miss aircraft incidents in 12 months

Mumbai: There were 35 near-miss incidents from March 2015 to March 2016, involving aircraft belonging to major airlines and the IAF, according to statistics submitted by Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma in Lok Sabha last month.
According to the official figures examined by The Indian Express, of the 35 incidents, at least 11 were reported in Delhi airspace, eight in Chennai, seven in Mumbai and four in Varanasi.
The statistics handbook of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for 2014-15 recorded 11 “serious incidents” in the previous cycle, although a senior official told The Indian Express that “not all near-miss incidents could be classified as serious”.
Records show the aircraft involved in these 35 incidents belonged to major industry players and the IAF: Air India, Jet Airways, IndiGo Airlines, SpiceJet, British Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Oman Air, Go Air, Saudia, Vistara, Sri Lankan Airlines, Qatar Airways, Japan Airlines.
When contacted, airline representatives said their crew was not at fault while aviation experts said these instances occurred mainly due to infrastructure problems.
“In most of our cases our flight crew have not caused any “Level Bust” or violated any ATC instructions (except one). In the case of latter, both flight crew were kept off the flying duties and were sent for remedial training,” IndiGo said in a emailed response.
An Etihad Airways spokesperson stated in an emailed response that “official investigations into these incidents revealed that Etihad Airways crew were not at fault and at no point was the safety of the aircraft, passengers or crew compromised”.
SpiceJet and British Airways, too, said that in incidents their planes were involved in, their crew were not at fault.
29/06/16  Khushboo Narayan/Indian Express

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