Air India audit finds 51 safety lapses, from pilots' training gap to poor rostering
According to Reuters, the 11-page audit report of Air India noted seven breaches of Level 1 which need to be fixed by July 30.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has flagged 51 safety lapses at Air India in its July audit which includes poor rostering, training gaps for pilots and use of unapproved simulators – adding growing scrutiny of the Tata Group-owned airline after the Ahmedabad-London Air India plane crash that killed 260 people seconds after take-off.
Air India is already under pressure, having received warning notices for operating flights without checking emergency equipment, failing to replace engine parts on time, falsifying maintenance records, and neglecting crew fatigue protocols.
WHAT DOES THE AUDIT REPORT SAY?
According to Reuters, the 11-page audit report of Air India noted seven breaches of Level 1 which need to be fixed by July 30. The other 44 breaches would need to be fixed by August 23.
- Officials said some unspecified Boeing 787 and 777 pilots had not completed their “trainings” and “monitoring duties” ahead of the mandatory periodic evaluations.
- Air India also did not do “proper route assessments” for some so-called Category C airports - which may have challenging layouts or terrain - and conducted training for such airfields with simulators that did not meet qualification standards.
"This may account to non-consideration of safety risks during approaches to challenging airports," the DGCA audit report said.
Meanwhile, Air India has said that it was “fully transparent” and will “submit our response to the regulator within the stipulated time frame, along with the details of the corrective actions.”
The audit report has come days after a preliminary report on the Air India plane crash found that fuel control switches were flipped to “cut off” seconds after take-off. The interim report also pointed at confusion among the pilots.
The audit report highlighted inconsistencies in “door checks and equipment checks” and pointed to gaps in the documentation of crew training. "This results in a lack of accountability, and effective monitoring of flight operations for these aircraft types," the report said, Reuters reported.