Not Just Suspensions, Pilots And Airline Staff May Soon Be Fined In Crores For Breaking Safety Rules

In a move that will give more power to aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will soon be allowed to penalise pilots and airlines found violating aviation safety norms by imposing fines and going beyond just suspension or cancellation of permissions.

AFP

Presently, the DGCA only debars, suspends and sometimes cancels permission to fly for airlines, individual pilots or engineers who err on the wrong side but is not allowed to impose any monetary penalty. Civil aviation secretary R N Choubey confirmed the government¡¯s plans to amend the Aircraft Act, 1934 to give more teeth to the DGCA.

There will be stringent fines on hard landings, violations of controlled air space and other mistakes a pilot could commit. Currently, a refresher course is all a pilot needs to get back to flying.

¡°Currently, there is no provision to levy penalties. This should be allowed to happen,¡± Choubey said, adding that the government supported stringent provisions in place for the DGCA to deal with violations at various levels, including those related to airlines, pilots, crew members and other entities.

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¡°Now, if there is any irregularity the licence of the entire airline is suspended for some time. This is an extreme punishment and there is no provision for anything in between,¡± Choubey said. ¡°We are saying that unless something is very severe, there should be a provision for levying a fine.¡±

The ministry of civil aviation plans to introduce the amendments in the winter session of Parliament. In the draft of the Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2016, the ministry has proposed other changes as well, such as increasing the quantum of the fine that can be imposed under this law to up to Rs 1crore from the existing amount of Rs 10 lakh.

Among other amendments, a new sub-section is proposed to be included stating that the aviation authority or any other officers specially empowered by the central government shall perform the safety oversight functions regarding matters specified in the Act.

Reuters

The amendments are going to be in line with the rules followed by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA). ¡°FAA enforcement is serious business and involves the potential loss or suspension of your airman¡¯s certificate or a civil penalty (a fine),¡± a DGCA official said.

Citing an example, the officer elaborated, ¡°Say you were unfortunate enough to experience an engine failure in a single-engine aircraft and landed your airplane successfully in an open field, with no damage to the passengers or aircraft. If a probe showed that it was the pilot¡¯s fault, then he should be ready to pay for the damages, besides undergoing the required refresher courses.¡±

Reuters

Violations This Year

Experts have raised concerns about aviation safety after the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, this year, found 270 airline staff, mostly pilots, guilty of violating safety norms and initiated action against them. One hundred and fifty of these staff were suspended, which indicates that these individuals repeatedly violated safety norms.

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In June, the DGCA sacked the Air Pegasus flight safety chief and suspended five Air Pegasus pilots after a safety audit revealed they had, on multiple occasions, violated safety norms which including flight duty times. According to DGCA data, 44 crew members, including pilots of Jet Airways faced enforcement actions this year till June-end, followed by IndiGo (25), Air India (22), SpiceJet (15), GoAir (8), Vistara (4) and AirAsia (2).

Generally, first-time violators are given warnings. The next time they are caught, the DGCA directs airlines to de-roster them from flying duty for a specific time period while repeat offenders are suspended.