Accidents waiting to happen at Mumbai, Delhi airports: Experts

New Delhi: In the last eight months, there have been 14 air-misses in the country. Most of them are mainly due to human error, which is a matter of serious concern for the experts.The experts admitted that there was a noticeable increase in two aircraft taking off together due to misreading of control tower instructions, which is the one of worst forms of negligence.
"In such cases, the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) should suspend the licence of the pilots, air traffic controller and others involved, for more than three months. Merely grounding them will not help," former DGCA chief HS Khola said.
Most experts claimed that the situation was alarming, but perhaps not enough to shake up the system. Lack of equipment, trained manpower and lack of coordination between agencies make things worse at busy airports like Mumbai and Delhi.
".. There is an urgent need to work out a plan to train manpower of airlines and airports as per international standards," captain A Ranganathan said.
On the training front, the experts claimed that not just airport authorities, but the DGCA too needs it. The DGCA doesn't have enough manpower and it impacts its role as an aviation regulator.
27/08/09 Yogesh Kumar/Daily News & Analysis

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Categories: Airports Aug 2009, Safety Aug 2009