The Scars of Pencil-Whipping

India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended Air India chief of flight safety Rajeev Gupta for one-month following the agency’s discovery of serious shortcomings in the airline’s safety culture and risk-management protocols.

The DGCA set forth in a 21 September 2023 statement: “The DGCA surveillance found deficiencies in the accident prevention work carried out by the organization [Air India] and the availability of the requisite technical man-power as required in the approved Flight Safety Manual and the relevant Civil Aviation Requirements. Further, it was observed that some of the internal audit/spot-checks claimed to be carried out by the airline were done in a perfunctory manner and not as per the regulatory requirements.”

Upon reviewing the action-taken report submitted by Air India, the DGCA issued show cause notices to relevant officials of the Tata Group-owned air-carrier.

The DGCA continued: “Based on the review of the replies received, the airline has been directed not to assign any audits/surveillance/spot-checks pertaining to compliance of DGCA requirements to the particular auditor involved in the perfunctory inspections, which indicates lack of diligence. Further, the approval of Chief of Flight Safety of Air India has been suspended for a period of one month for the lapses established.”

In response to the DGCA’s finding and the punitory repercussions thereof, an Air India spokesman remarked: “We acknowledge and accept the DGCA’s finding, and regret the failure of one of our audit staff to fully comply with the process and documentation requirements. Safety is Air India’s highest priority, and we are investing heavily in people, processes, and systems to raise Air India’s standards to best practice. We are sparing no effort to uplift the culture of safety and diligence to contemporary standards, through clarifying requirements, training, and stricter consequence management. We will continue these efforts for as long as is needed to affect the necessary changes.”

The DGCA alleges its inspection team determined a number of safety spot-checks Air India claimed to have performed at its Delhi, Mumbai, and Goa hubs had, in fact, not been performed, and reports pertaining to such had been falsified. Moreover, the DGCA team identified deficiencies in the pre-flight medical tests administered to Air India’s pilots. Lapses were observed, also, in the airline’s spot-checks of ramp services and aircraft cabin surveillance. Finally, the DGCA team discovered the qualifications of personnel listed as Air India safety auditors were not consistent with the criteria stipulated in the airline’s flight safety manual.

A subsidiary of India’s Ministry of Civil Aviation, the nodal ministry responsible for the formulation of national policies and programs for the development and regulation of civil aviation throughout India, the DGCA conducts safety audits and inspections of Indian airlines’ operations, maintenance, and record-keeping.

FMI: www.airindia.com