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Travel
Fly at Your Peril: The Motto of India's Aviation Industry
by RICK WESTHEAD
New Delhi, India
Pilots on an Air India flight from Mumbai, India, to Saudi Arabia last August had an unexpected visitor in the cockpit: a rat.
The rodent crawled over the first officer’s leg and disappeared into the plane’s avionics bay. The aircraft arrived safely and was later fumigated.
Two months earlier, during a Pawan Hans helicopter flight in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh, a door opened at 2,000 feet and a cabin attendant was sucked out and killed.
Also last summer, a SpiceJet flight from Delhi to Ahmedabad lost contact with air traffic controllers for 10 minutes after it flew through precipitation. And an AirAsia services officer was killed after her arm was severed in a bizarre accident on the ramp leading to a plane.
How common are such safety mishaps? That’s not for the public to know, says an official with India’s airline regulator.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation in New Delhi has been destroying detailed safety records and, in many cases, keeping only a short description of serious inflight and on-ground security and safety incidents.
The directorate, which oversees India’s surging but recently troubled aviation sector, admits that safety records “prior to the year 2010 have been destroyed.” Bir Rai, an official with the government regulator, made the declaration in a letter last month in response to a Right to Information Act request filed by the Toronto Star.
India’s airline sector has been one of this country’s fastest-growing industries in recent years. From January to November 2010, domestic airlines carried 46.8 million passengers, up 19 per cent for the previous year.
But the growth has not translated to profits. Even though the global airline industry was projected to earn $8.9 billion last year, the Indian sector lost a collective $400 million, the International Air Transport Association said in September.
Financial losses have been far from the only problem facing India’s carriers, and the latest revelation is likely to add to their woes.
The Indian government has gone on a hunt in recent months to arrest pilots for civilian airlines who have allegedly paid bribes to obtain their commercial pilot licences.
Other pilots have been arrested for being drunk when they arrive for work at airports, and there have been recent reports that Air India, the country’s largest airline and a possible future partner with Air Canada in the Star Alliance program, has coerced pilots into flying when they are sick.
“There has been so much growth in the sector, and there are obviously going to be pains with that,” said Gurcharan Bhatura, a member of India’s National Civil Aviation Security Advisory Council.
Following his written response to the Star’s information request, Rai specified that only paper records had been destroyed, and that electronic records were still being maintained by the directorate general.
But a review of 17 weeks’ worth of safety records revealed that the directorate general is keeping merely snippets of information about serious safety incidents in weekly incident reports.
Rai initially approved the Star’s request to review safety incident reports in person. He subsequently changed his mind and demanded the Star leave the building, saying documents relating to airline safety in India are secret.
“These are not for the public,” Rai said. “If you want to complain, go ahead. Complain to the Prime Minister of India.”
Bhatura, of the aviation security advisory council, said he was worried about Rai’s comments.
“I cannot understand why he has written this letter. How can they destroy records?” Bhatura asked. “I just can’t believe it.”
The weekly safety reports list dates and places of incidents, airline operators and a brief description of the on-ground or in-air problems.
The 17 weeks’ worth of reports reviewed by the Star recorded 31 engineering incidents, 28 bird hits, eight ground incidents and four operational problems. There were also three incidents of planes on the same flight path.
With files from Suhasini Raj
[Courtesy: Toronto Star]
July 25, 2011
Conversation about this article
1: Baldev Singh (Bradford, United Kingdom), July 25, 2011, 12:24 PM.
As someone who travels on domestic airlines frequently, I have seen everything at airports and in the air! Saw truncheons being used on unruly passengers angry at a delay at the Delhi Airport recently. Several incidents of passengers being angry and abusive in the air. The problem is a systemic lack of the 'right' education in India to be civilized, caring, civic-conscious, polite, human beings. All that appears to matter in that land is 'ME!' and 'MONEY!' and 'MY CASTE', MY Job, MY House, MY Car ... and to hell with morality, ethics, kindness, politeness, cleanliness, and the Nation. But they do join hands and become 'selfless' when it comes to killing minorities, or joining a mob to cause general mayhem!
2: Kanwarjeet Singh (Franklin Park, New Jersey, U.S.A.), July 25, 2011, 3:47 PM.
You get what you deserve. Have you ever seen people in India drive or cross the road or even train tracks - why should aviation be any different. If you ever see people get on and off a domestic flight in India, it reminds you of a local bus service. It is as if you can deplane first if you get out of your seat first!
3: Raj (Canada), July 25, 2011, 10:19 PM.
The only system that works like a well-oiled machine in India is "corruption".
4: Sangat Singh (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia), July 26, 2011, 9:49 AM.
Looks like Air India might merge with the hilarious 'Punjab Airways'. "Good morning, Ladies and Gentlemen. This is your very handsome Captain Banta Singh welcoming you to Punjab Airways. Sorry we are four days late in taking off but I had to do some overtime at the bakery. This is the one-two-six flight to New Delhi. We cannot guarantee that we will end up in Delhi but rest assured it will be somewhere in the East. And if you are very lucky we may even be landing in your village! A real Punjabi will land where he wants to, isn't that right, brothers! Today, we have 12 passengers on the plane - which is a bit of a problem because we only have 5 seats! Hm-m-m. For safety reasons we will be counting all the passengers again during and after the flight. We have a very good record for safety. In fact, we are so safe, even the terrorists are afraid to fly with us! I am pleased to tell you that over 50% of our passengers end up at their destination. Air India might appear a better choice, because their record is a little better.