Joint probe into near-miss against global rules

Mumbai: The Ministry of Civil Aviation’s decision to conduct a joint investigation along with the Indian Air Force (IAF) into the February 9 near-miss incident in Mumbai goes against internationally mandated accident investigation rules and risks compromising the independence of the investigation, safety experts say.
According to them, including in the investigative process parties implicated in the near-miss – here the IAF and the Airports Authority of India (AAI), which manages air-traffic communications – goes against accident investigation guidelines laid down by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), of which India is a member-country.
On February 9, an eight-member team from the Directorate-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the national safety authority, began investigating the near-miss, which saw an IAF helicopter, part of the President’s convoy, come perilously close to an Airbus carrying 150 passengers.
While the probe, led by DGCA joint director A.K. Chopra, has already submitted its report to the DGCA, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said on Friday that a committee led by Director General of Civil Aviation Naseem Zaidi, Group Captain Alok Kumar of the IAF and Vinod Kumar Yadava, executive director, AAI will now handle the investigation.
It remains unclear why the Ministry has ordered a fresh inquiry 11 days after the investigation began.
Sources said the move follows complaints from the IAF regarding the DGCA’s probe, which reportedly had found that the IAF’s pilots did not follow correct landing procedures and failed to receive clearance from air traffic control.
“Reconstituting the investigative board along with two interested parties blatantly violates ICAO’s Annex 13,” said air safety expert Capt. A. Ranganathan, who has worked with the DGCA. According to Annex 13, the accident investigation authority – in India, the responsibility lies with the DGCA — “shall have independence in the conduct of the investigation,” implying that any interested parties cannot have any role in the process to ensure impartiality.
The DGCA has already come under fire from the ICAO for its accident investigation procedures. In a safety audit conducted in 2006, the ICAO recommended that accident investigations should be “conducted by an independent authority, separate from the DGCA,” given the organisation’s lack of independence from the Ministry, of which it is a part.
21/02/09 Ananth Krishnan/The Hindu

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Categories: Air India Domestic Feb 2009, Airports Feb 2009, NACIL Jan 2009, Safety Feb 2009