News Highlights
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) served a show-cause notice on SpiceJet following at least eight midair incidents and an accident since May.
Focus Points
- The DGCA has blamed ‘poor internal safety oversight’ and ‘inadequate maintenance action’ for the fall in the safety standards.
Issues in SpiceJet Since May
- SpiceJets saw incidents of a cracked windshield, an engine shut down and an engine failure, smoke in the cabin, a bird strike, a pressurisation snag, and a glitch in weather radar.
- It also saw an accident, when the airline’s Boeing 737 – 800 flew into turbulence resulting in injuries to several passengers.
DGCA Show Cause Notice
- The airline has failed to establish “safe, efficient and reliable air services”.
- Its review of incidents reported by SpiceJet since April showed that the airline was forced to either cut short its journey and turn back its aircraft and land at the airport of origin or continue to its destination with “degraded safety margins”.
- It has blamed “poor internal safety oversight” and “inadequate maintenance actions” for the fall in safety standards.
- The airline witnessed a shortage in supply of spare parts because of its failure to pay vendors on time.
Classification of Accidents
- The Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2017 categorise occurrences into.
What is an Accident?
- An accident is one where a passenger is fatally or seriously injured or when the aircraft sustains structural damage or if the aircraft is missing or inaccessible.
- Exceptions for accidents
- Physical damage to the aircraft by incidents such as when only one of the two engines fails, damage to propellers, wingtips, antennas, probes, vanes, tires, brakes, wheels, panels, landing gear doors, windscreens, the aircraft skin, or minor damages to main rotor blades, tail rotor blades, landing gear, and those resulting from hail or bird strike.
- A “serious incident” means an occurrence where there is a high probability of an accident.
What are Incidents?
- An “incident” is one that could affect the safety of flight operations.
What can the DGCA do?
- The Aircraft Rules 1937 empowered the DGCA to impose a fine of ₹1 crore.
- Detain any aircraft if it can lead to danger to persons in the aircraft or to any other persons or property.
- The regulator can also suspend the airline’s air operator’s certificate (AOC) which is a prerequisite for offering commercial air services in the country or curtail the airline’s schedule.
Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)
- The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is a statutory body to regulate civil aviation in India.
- Formed under the Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2020.
- Function
- The DGCA investigates aviation accidents and incidents
- Maintains all regulations related to aviation,
- Responsible for the issuance of licences pertaining to aviation
- DGCA is under the Ministry of Civil Aviation
Content Source : The Hindu