DGCA imposes ₹10 lakh fine on Vistara
PremiumDGCA has imposed ₹10 lakh fine on Vistara for letting an improperly-trained pilot land a flight at Indore airport, PTI has reported.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has imposed ₹10 lakh fine on Vistara for letting an improperly-trained pilot land a flight at Indore airport, PTI has reported.
"Vistara has been fined by DGCA for violation of takeoff and landing clearance given to first officers without conducting any training. A penalty of ten lakh has been levied on the airline for the said lapse. It was detected during a landing in Indore," DGCA told ANI.
Meanwhile, Vistara has released a statement on the issue.
“A supervised takeoff and landing (STOL) was conducted on a flight to Indore in August 2021 under the supervision of an experienced captain. The pilots were adequately trained and in possession of valid STOL certificates issued by their previous employer for which Vistara claimed the credit. Vistara voluntarily reported to regulatory authorities that the same training which was to be conducted again in line with regulatory requirements was missed, leading to the regrettable violation. Vistara always puts the safety of passengers and staff as its top priority," said a Vistara spokesperson.
As per the rules, training is conducted for the first officer to land the aircraft on the simulator before they can do it at the aircraft with passengers on board.
"A captain is trained at simulator before he/she can give landing to the first officer. Aircraft was being landed by the first officer without the captain or the first officer training at the simulator," informed DGCA.
DGCA stressed that the act was a serious breach for it risked the security of flyers.
"It is a serious violation endangering the lives of the passengers on board," added DGCA.
Tata Singapore joint venture company known as Tata-SIA Airlines Limited operating as Vistara is an Indian full-service airline.
Earlier, the DGCA had imposed a fine of Rs.10 lakh on SpiceJet for training 737 Max aircraft pilots on a faulty simulator on Monday.
A senior DGCA official informed that during simulator surveillance by DGCA at CSTPL Greater Noida on March 30, 2022, it was observed that there was an MMI (Missing Malfunction Inoperative Item ) for the B737 Max with respect to the Stick shaker on the P2 side, being inoperative since 17th March 2022.
SpiceJet was fined ₹10 lakh by the DGCA on May 30 for training 737 Max aircraft pilots on a defective simulator. The DGCA previously restricted 90 SpiceJet pilots from flying B737 Max planes. The regulator ordered that the pilots be retrained.
It said, "training being imparted by SpiceJet could have adversely affected flight safety and was nullified."
(With ANI inputs)
