New Delhi: The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) has cracked the whip on Jet Airways for allowing 131 of its pilots to fly with lapsed licences. Sources told FE that the aviation regulator on Tuesday suspended two pilots for a month and in the days to come others are also likely to face similar action. The move follows an unsatisfactory explanation from the pilots at the behest of the carrier that they were flying even when their mandatory six-month pilot proficiency check (PPC) had lapsed because of an ambiguity in the rules governing such checks.
Sources said that the DGCA has not bought the explanation since it was based on the older operating manual notified by the regulator (Operating Manual Revision 5), which allows them to fly till eight months with a PPC whereas the newer manual (OM 6), which is currently in force, clearly states that PPC needs to be renewed every six months.
As reported by FE earlier, Jet’s manager, flight and training operations, had apprised the management in categorical terms of the new rules on PPC in September last year.
The DGCA audit on Jet had come after the August event when its Mumbai-Brussels flight with 280 passengers on board plunged 5,000 feet over Turkey as one of the pilot had dozed off and the co-pilot was busy on an iPad. A subsequent audit by the regulator found that the carrier’s 131 pilots were flying even though their PPC had lapsed.
02/10/14 Financial Express
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Sources said that the DGCA has not bought the explanation since it was based on the older operating manual notified by the regulator (Operating Manual Revision 5), which allows them to fly till eight months with a PPC whereas the newer manual (OM 6), which is currently in force, clearly states that PPC needs to be renewed every six months.
As reported by FE earlier, Jet’s manager, flight and training operations, had apprised the management in categorical terms of the new rules on PPC in September last year.
The DGCA audit on Jet had come after the August event when its Mumbai-Brussels flight with 280 passengers on board plunged 5,000 feet over Turkey as one of the pilot had dozed off and the co-pilot was busy on an iPad. A subsequent audit by the regulator found that the carrier’s 131 pilots were flying even though their PPC had lapsed.
02/10/14 Financial Express
