New Delhi: When the Pune-Kolkata SpiceJet aircraft, SG-275, veered off the runway at the Kolkata airport Tuesday, it was the fifth such instance in just 72 hours, between 30 June and 2 July.
It was also the sixth such incident of an Indian airline going off the runway in the last three months — the first of this spate of accidents occurred on 29 April, when a SpiceJet aircraft, SG-946, a Boeing 737-800 headed from Delhi to Shirdi, overshot the runway upon landing.
While there have been no casualties due to the mishaps, the sheer frequency of these accidents has raised questions on safety standards, particularly within SpiceJet, and on pilot training.
Of the six incidents, four aircraft belonged to SpiceJet, while the other two are Air India Express (AIE) planes.
ThePrint reached SpiceJet spokesperson Tushar Srivastava for a response on the incidents but he refused to comment while the CEO of Air India Express was unavailable for comment.
The focus on pilot training has arisen as at least half of the incidents, including the latest one in Kolkata, occurred in wet weather, for which, airlines have to ensure that their pilots undergo the mandatory monsoon-related ALAR (Approach and Landing Accident Reduction) training.
The series of runway incidents have prompted experts to raise questions on the training of pilots and safety standards being maintained by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the country’s aviation watchdog.
“This points to very poor training and safety standards at SpiceJet and AIE,” said Captain Mohan Ranganathan, an aviation safety consultant and a former instructor of the Boeing 737 specialising in wet runway operations training.
“It also points to DGCA turning a blind eye to serious safety issues. The DGCA is being a facilitator for airlines and not a regulator.”
Ranganathan added that the DGCA should have grounded SpiceJet and conducted an independent safety audit by bringing in an outside agency. “The airlines appear to have ignored the mandatory monsoon-related ALAR training. The spate of incidents point to very serious failure,” he said.
“If the ministry of civil aviation and the DGCA care about passenger lives, they should ground the airlines that are incapable of safe operations during the monsoons.”
DGCA officials did not respond to the queries sent by The Print. This report will be updated when they do.
Sudhakara Reddy, president of the Air Passengers Association of India, wondered if airlines are forgoing safety to keep their aircraft in the air. “The latest is the fifth such incident in the last five days. Is it because of a rush to train pilots and keep the fleet in the sky without rest or proper training?” he asked
Another aviation expert, Mark Martin, said the “only solution” to the runway incidents was better crew training.
03/07/19 Ifrah Mufti/Print
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It was also the sixth such incident of an Indian airline going off the runway in the last three months — the first of this spate of accidents occurred on 29 April, when a SpiceJet aircraft, SG-946, a Boeing 737-800 headed from Delhi to Shirdi, overshot the runway upon landing.
While there have been no casualties due to the mishaps, the sheer frequency of these accidents has raised questions on safety standards, particularly within SpiceJet, and on pilot training.
Of the six incidents, four aircraft belonged to SpiceJet, while the other two are Air India Express (AIE) planes.
ThePrint reached SpiceJet spokesperson Tushar Srivastava for a response on the incidents but he refused to comment while the CEO of Air India Express was unavailable for comment.
The focus on pilot training has arisen as at least half of the incidents, including the latest one in Kolkata, occurred in wet weather, for which, airlines have to ensure that their pilots undergo the mandatory monsoon-related ALAR (Approach and Landing Accident Reduction) training.
The series of runway incidents have prompted experts to raise questions on the training of pilots and safety standards being maintained by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the country’s aviation watchdog.
“This points to very poor training and safety standards at SpiceJet and AIE,” said Captain Mohan Ranganathan, an aviation safety consultant and a former instructor of the Boeing 737 specialising in wet runway operations training.
“It also points to DGCA turning a blind eye to serious safety issues. The DGCA is being a facilitator for airlines and not a regulator.”
Ranganathan added that the DGCA should have grounded SpiceJet and conducted an independent safety audit by bringing in an outside agency. “The airlines appear to have ignored the mandatory monsoon-related ALAR training. The spate of incidents point to very serious failure,” he said.
“If the ministry of civil aviation and the DGCA care about passenger lives, they should ground the airlines that are incapable of safe operations during the monsoons.”
DGCA officials did not respond to the queries sent by The Print. This report will be updated when they do.
Sudhakara Reddy, president of the Air Passengers Association of India, wondered if airlines are forgoing safety to keep their aircraft in the air. “The latest is the fifth such incident in the last five days. Is it because of a rush to train pilots and keep the fleet in the sky without rest or proper training?” he asked
Another aviation expert, Mark Martin, said the “only solution” to the runway incidents was better crew training.
03/07/19 Ifrah Mufti/Print
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