DGCA officials yet to file initial probe report

Mumbai: It's been over a month and a half after the Mangalore air crash but no preliminary investigation report has been released, though there is a rule that puts a 10-day deadline for filing one. Little wonder then that the rule, which pertains to accident/incident investigation, is hardly known in the aviation industry as it has almost always been violated.
According to Civil Aviation Requirement (CAR) Section 5 (Air Safety), Series C, Part I issued on 13 October 2006, "preliminary report by the inspector of accidents/inquiry officer should be finalised within 10 days of the accident''. The CAR says, the preliminary report should be in the format provided by International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO). Going by this CAR, the deadline for submitting the preliminary investigation report for the May 22 Air India Express Mangalore aircrash was June 2.
On Friday, S N Dwivedi, secretary to the court of inquiry formed to investigate the Mangalore air tragedy, who is also director of airworthiness, DGCA, said that the information uploaded on the ministry of civil aviation's website under the title "initial investigation report'' was not the preliminary investigation report.
There is a strong reason why ICAO puts an early deadline for such a report. "The preliminary report should say whether any safety hazard, either in human factor, aircraft factor and/or any other relevant factor is prima facie evident during the early stages of investigation,'' says the 2006 DGCA CAR.
A preliminary report is about learning lessons from the accident. It is for this reason that countries mandatorily release a preliminary report within weeks of an air tragedy.
12/07/10 Manju V/Times of India

To Read the News in full at Source, Click the Headline

Categories: Air India Budget Jul 2010, Airports Jul 2010, NACIL Jul 2010, Safety Jul 2010