Pvt pilots to rescue of crunch-hit DGCA

New Delhi: Private airlines can now lend their examiner pilots to the resource-hit Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), under a new Civil Aviation Regulation (CAR) in the offing. The DGCA, incidentally, is the regulatory body overseeing India's aviation sector.
The examiner pilots will join the crucial Flight Inspection Directorate (FID). This department acts like a quality controller for the aviation sector, and has just 3-4 examiners from AI, who look after flight crew licencing/checks, ccidents/incident probes, safety measures and aircraft operations surveillance.
This number is vastly inadequate for a country with some 500 planes and around 3,000 pilots. Various clearances, say sources, would, therefore, take to a month. What is needed is 14-15 flight inspectors (FIs), says an insider. The DGCA, however, was unavailable for comment.
In fact, the International Civil Aviation Organisation had recommended that the DGCA get more flight inspectors, and so got the Kaw Panel to look into this organisation three years ago.
With private airlines having some 100 examiners, there is a valuable pool which can be tapped. This new CAR was recently okayed by the aviation ministry, reveals a senior official there. The pool of FIs has now been widened and examiners from private airlines can be used optimally here, the official added.
FIs job includes ramp and on-board inspection, ensuring that cockpit procedures are adhered to by pilots, check if airlines are complying with special procedures like CAT II and III, etc, says a source.
Under this move, private airlines will lend one examiner to DGCA for every 10 planes they have, says the official. The pilots would do normal flying duties and, at the same time, be given a certain allowance for this DGCA work.
A final decision is yet to be taken on this. Though airline examiners are supposed to be men of impeccable credibility, to further prevent favouritism, these FIs will be allowed to check only pilots of other airlines, not their own, says the official. They will be selected by a committee of the DGCA.
28/12/08 Shobha John/Times of India

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Categories: Indian Aviation- In General Dec 2008