New Delhi: Air India Express, the low-fare unit of national carrier Air India, ignored safety audit findings of the aviation regulator and failed to meet the requirements laid down to operate an airline, an investigation into the Mangalore plane crash has revealed.
At least 158 people died in the 22 May crash when Air India Express flight IX-812 from Dubai to Mangalore landed in a gorge overshooting the so-called table-top runway.
The 175-page investigation report on the crash said Air India Express overlooked the findings of the regulator in 2007, as Mint had reported on 10 August.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation did a safety audit of Air India Express in November 2007. A similar audit ordered after the crash found the same irregularities such as unqualified manpower and crew scheduling were repeated, the report said.
Air India Express continued to use the service of its parent Air India and grew rapidly to a fleet of 25 from three in a short span of four years starting 2005.
Air India Express’ chief of operations, training and chief of flight safety continued to be pilots deputed from Air India, who flew Boeing 777 or Boeing 747. Air India Express flies Boeing 737 aircraft.
“None of these post holders were qualified on Boeing 737-800 aircraft operated by Air India Express,” the report said, adding there was a need for a “calibrated growth of Air India Express” where “infrastructure and, in particular, induction of duly qualified manpower also takes place.”
Monitoring of training standards of pilots were also not paid attention to, the report said.
The mandatory analysis of the cockpit voice recorder is “presently being carried out only for flights operating into Mumbai”. The analysis is done to ascertain if the pilots made any errors in their flights.
Air India Express operates the bulk of the flights from Kozhikode, Kochi, Thiruvananthapuram, Chennai and Mangalore, according to the carrier.
The investigation also admitted the airline uses pencil and eraser, as Mint reported earlier, to make crew rosters, which “leaves room for frequent changes leading to lack of transparency”.
21/04/11 Tarun Shukla/Live Mint
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