Near miss: DGCA to grill IAF pilots

Mumbai: Ego clashes, non-cooperation and a battle of words. These are just a few hurdles that the director general of civil aviation (DGCA) investigation team will have to encounter when they sit down to interrogate pilots from non-civilian territory-the Indian Air Force-who were involved in Monday's fiasco at Mumbai airport.
The first signs of the clash between civil authorities and IAF officers were visible on Tuesday, a day after the DGCA commenced investigations into the near-miss incident involving President Pratibha Patil's IAF helicopter squadron. "The DGCA is scheduled to interrogate the IAF pilots on Wednesday. But the IAF wants an additional representative to be present along with their pilots. The DGCA has turned down the demand,'' said a source.
Earlier, the DGCA would have little say in matters involving the IAF as its jurisdiction does not cover defence forces. It was therefore not easy to bring IAF pilots to the table for a probe.
But that changed following the rise in incidents of near-misses between IAF aircraft and civilian aircraft in the last few years. The rules for investigation in matters that involve civilian and defence aircraft were laid down six months ago in a meeting convened by the DGCA in Delhi and attended by officials of the Airports Authority of India and Indian Air Force, empowering the DGCA to some extent.
"It was then decided that the DGCA would investigate any incident/accident that involved civilian aircraft or which took place in a civil aerodrome and the IAF would allow the DGCA to interrogate its pilots and officials involved,'' the source said.
11/02/09 Manju V/Times of India

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