Explosive findings of air safety audits conducted by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) have exposed major chinks in the aviation sector - planes with screws missing, a flight that took off without the essential explosive certification for refueling and routine inspections that were not carried out because of lack of trained manpower.
In response to an RTI filed by Mail Today, the DGCA conceded that there were safety gaps in air operations.
Sources said most safety inspections found improper documentation of air operations and engineering checks done on the ground, indicating your safety on flight may have been compromised.
In fact, DGCA itself is so staff crunched that it cannot complete safety inspections of all the airline operators in one year as per regulation. As a result, it outsources the primary obligation of conducting the safety audits to airline companies most of the time.
This undermines the system of impartial safety inspection, said former DGCA Kanu Gohain.
"How much sincerity can you expect after delegating the safety audit responsibilities to the airlines themselves?'' Gohain asked.
26/03/13 Maneesh Pandey/India Today
