New Delhi: Directorate General civil Aviation (DGCA) has closed two flight training schools – one each Madhya Pradesh And Gujarat – Due to serious security concerns. “One school is in Shirpur and the other is Chimes Aviation Academy in MP,” said a senior official.
“Flight at a school has been suspended until the runway is fit for operation. During inspection it was observed that it had loose gravel and uneven surface and was unsafe for flight,” the official said. And in another school, three aircraft were found to have bad fuel gauge indicators used for training.
“Flight operations at this school have been suspended for three weeks. It will be allowed to operate only when things are fine,” the official said.
This is the second action in just a week by the DGCA, which is auditing Flight Training Organizations (FTOs), after a spate of accidents. aviation regulator Arun Kumar Ordered a special security audit of 32 functional FTOs in India, which began on March 21, 2022.
Till June 16, 30 schools were audited and several lapses were found, leading to suspension of approval of one school and grounding of Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) at several places near Delhi.
Based on the findings of this audit and the investigation into recent accidents, the DGCA initiated “enforcement action (eg issuance) warning letters to the two accountable managers; two CFIs for one year, two CFIs for three months, one for one year”. Suspension order for one Deputy CFI for three months, two Deputy CFIs for three months, one AFI for three months and one student for three months.
The approval of an FTO has been suspended. The enforcement action against other persons/FTOs is in various stages, the statement said.
The review of the FTO revealed deficiencies such as “non-compliance with the requirements of DGCA for conducting Breath Analyzer (BA) examination”. Some instructors, student pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers did not take the BA test or submit an undertaking prior to the commencement of duty/exercise of privileges. In some cases, the equipment being used (for the BA test) did not comply with the requirements or was not calibrated as required.
The regulator found cases of “false logging”. “In the subsequent cases the double flight is recorded as a single flight and in some other cases the taxi time was calculated for the student pilot’s instrument flight time.”
“Flight at a school has been suspended until the runway is fit for operation. During inspection it was observed that it had loose gravel and uneven surface and was unsafe for flight,” the official said. And in another school, three aircraft were found to have bad fuel gauge indicators used for training.
“Flight operations at this school have been suspended for three weeks. It will be allowed to operate only when things are fine,” the official said.
This is the second action in just a week by the DGCA, which is auditing Flight Training Organizations (FTOs), after a spate of accidents. aviation regulator Arun Kumar Ordered a special security audit of 32 functional FTOs in India, which began on March 21, 2022.
Till June 16, 30 schools were audited and several lapses were found, leading to suspension of approval of one school and grounding of Chief Flying Instructor (CFI) at several places near Delhi.
Based on the findings of this audit and the investigation into recent accidents, the DGCA initiated “enforcement action (eg issuance) warning letters to the two accountable managers; two CFIs for one year, two CFIs for three months, one for one year”. Suspension order for one Deputy CFI for three months, two Deputy CFIs for three months, one AFI for three months and one student for three months.
The approval of an FTO has been suspended. The enforcement action against other persons/FTOs is in various stages, the statement said.
The review of the FTO revealed deficiencies such as “non-compliance with the requirements of DGCA for conducting Breath Analyzer (BA) examination”. Some instructors, student pilots and aircraft maintenance engineers did not take the BA test or submit an undertaking prior to the commencement of duty/exercise of privileges. In some cases, the equipment being used (for the BA test) did not comply with the requirements or was not calibrated as required.
The regulator found cases of “false logging”. “In the subsequent cases the double flight is recorded as a single flight and in some other cases the taxi time was calculated for the student pilot’s instrument flight time.”