Aviation Safety Survey – Jan 2020

 

JANUARY 3, 2020 AVIATIONSAFETYINDIA

Spicejet flight from Chennai to Goa makes emergency landing

A SpiceJet flight departed from Chennai to Goa made an emergency landing at the Bengaluru International Airport because the flight cockpit’s windshield developed a crack mid-air on Thursday.

The Bengaluru International Airport authorities obtained a report from the pilot group round 11.56 am that they needed to make an emergency touchdown because the cockpit windshield had evolved a crack. The BIA authorities organized for the landing and the flight landed safely around 12.17 pm with all 68 passengers safe on-board.

Necessary preparations are being made for the passengers to attain Goa. The Bengaluru International Airport police showed the incident and the SpiceJet flight repute of SG-3105 confirmed cancelled online.

Comments by ASMSI

Wind Shield cracks have occurred on number of occasions. The cause of Wind Shield Cracks should be investigated. Under normal operating conditions, Wind Shield are not expected to crack.

 

JANUARY 4, 2020AVIATIONSAFETYINDIA

Indigo flight near Nagpur on Jan 1st 2020, suspected oil leak

An Indigo Airbus A320-200N, registration VT-IVS performing flight 6E-19 from Mumbai to Singapore, was enroute at FL350 near Nagpur when the crew decided to divert to Nagpur due to a suspected oil leak. The aircraft landed safely in Nagpur.

A replacement A320-200N registration VT-IZW reached Singapore with a delay of 6 hours.

The occurrence aircraft positioned to Delhi after about 21 hours on the ground in Nagpur.

The airline reported the aircraft diverted to Nagpur due to a suspected oil leak.

Comments by ASMSI

Good decision by the Pilot.

JANUARY 7, 2020 AVIATIONSAFETYINDIA

GoAir Pune-Kolkata flight takes 14 hrs to reach destination

It took over 14 hours for 162 passengers on a GoAir Pune-Kolkata flight that was scheduled to take off on Sunday night to reach their destination.

Go Air flight G8 394 that become scheduled to take off at 10.25pm on Sunday needed to be diverted to Bhubaneshwar because of terrible visibility in Kolkata. The flight become first delayed because of technical issues with the aircraft. An alternate flight become organized and passengers needed to repeat the boarding formalities.

According to the airline, the crew could not be allowed to fly as they had exceeded flight duty time limitation as mandated by the DGCA

“GoAir flight G8 394 from Pune to Kolkata was diverted to Bhubaneswar due to bad weather in Kolkata… Go Air sincerely regrets any inconvenience caused to its passengers,” said the airline spokesperson.

Comments by ASMSI

The delay or cancellation of flights due weather or technical reasons is beyond the control of Pilots or Airlines. However, if the flights are frequently delayed or cancelled due technical issues, the airline must investigate its maintenance standards and practices and probe into the reason of frequent technical problems. Harassment of the passengers due to avoidable delays is bad for the reputation of the airline.

 

 

JANUARY 7, 2020 AVIATIONSAFETYINDIA

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DGCA to issue notices to 100 GoAir pilots, senior officials for violation of FDTL norms

Aviation regulator DGCA has started the procedure of issuing show cause notices to  approximately one hundred pilots and senior executives of GoAir over alleged violation of flight duty time limit (FDTL) norms, a senior official said on January 6.

According to a source, GoAir cancelled as many as forty flights among December 23 and 24. During this period, it also said air turn lower back of two if its aircraft due to  engine  system defects and they were later taken out of operations for in addition inspection.

The airline had said on December 26 that because of inclement weather in north India, it experienced substantial flight delays and diversions leading to cancellation of flights as its group approached its FDTL inside the last 2-3 days.

Asked if the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has initiated the process of issuing notices to around 100 pilots and senior officials of budget carrier GoAir over violation of FDTL norms, the senior official replied in the affirmative.

“Yes, it is in process. Those who have violated FDTL are being issued show cause notices as to why action should not be taken against them,” the official said.

GoAir did not respond to queries sent.

Comments by ASMSI

Serious breach on the part of Airline and Pilots to exceed FDTL and FTL.DGCA is fully justified in issuing Show Cause Notice to the Pilots. Most of the time the Pilots are forced to exceed FDTL and FTL by the Management of the Airline obviously for commercial considerations. Go air has shortage of Pilots but that is no justification to violate DGCA rules on Safety.If due to special circumstances like delay due to technical reasons, weather and Air Traffic limitations which are  beyond the control of the airline, the airline should take DGCA clearance before permitting the Pilots to go beyond the application of pertinent rules. In our considered opinion, rather than issuing show cause notice to the Pilots,the Accountable Executive and the Senior Management of the Airline should be held accountable by DGCA and appropriate action should be taken against them. Holding the Accountable Executive accountable for any lapse in his Airline related to safety can go a long way in enhancing accountability and safety.

 

JANUARY 8, 2020 AVIATIONSAFETYINDIA

Indigo flight to Mumbai on Jan 6th 2020, loss of cabin pressure

An Indigo Airbus A320-200N, registration VT-ITA performing flight 6E-6449 from Bangalore to Mumbai (India), was descending through about FL200 towards Mumbai about 40nm south of Mumbai when the crew declared emergency due to the loss of cabin pressure and initiated an emergency descent, the passenger oxygen masks were not released. The crew downgraded the emergency to PAN after reaching 10,000 feet and continued for a safe landing on Mumbai’s runway 27 about 15 minutes later.

The airline reported the aircraft had an air-system indication caution in flight, the crew followed standard procedures. The aircraft is currently inspected by maintenance, it was not an engine related issue.

Passengers reported the captain announced “emergency descent”, a rise in temperature and a rapid descent followed. The aircraft was received by emergency services.

Comments by ASMSI

If the emergency was declared by the Pilots, they should have taken full emergency action and dropped the oxygen masks for passengers to use if required. The passenger safety is of utmost importance and the Pilots should follow the Emergency actions unless in their opinion, the emergency action activation will jeopardise safety. In this particular incident, the Pilots must have presumed that 4 to 5 Mts time required to descend to, 10000 Ft considered to be safe height, is not going to cause any problems and if the Oxygen masks are not deployed. Moreover, dropping oxygen masks is likely to cause panic among passengers. May be the Airline or the Pilots would like to comment on the incident and the action of the Pilot in not dropping Oxygen masks.

JANUARY 9, 2020 AVIATIONSAFETYINDIA

 

JANUARY 11, 2020 AVIATIONSAFETYINDIA

DGCA suspends licenses of 2 pilots who landed GoAir flight on grass at B’luru airport

Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation has suspended the licenses of GoAir pilots who landed the Nagpur-Bengaluru flight on November 11, 2019, even after they lost visual reference when the aircraft was 50ft above the runway.

The crew considered a wrong visual reference as the centre line of the runway and consequently, manoeuvred the aircraft to the left of the runway at Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport. The aircraft then veered off the runway.

“The crew lost visual reference at about 50 feet, however, they continued to land which is in violation of requirements laid down…” the DGCA statement says. “The crew considered wrong visual reference as runway centerline and maneuvered the aircraft to the left of Runway 09. The first officer did not monitor flight path deviation in the cockpit instruments thus failed to give a call out for deviation.”

The statement added a show-cause notice was sent to the captain as well as the co-pilot, and that the two pilots had accepted their mistake in writing. The DGCA then suspended the FATA (foreign aircrew temporary authorisation) held by the first pilot for a period of six months and the license held by the co-pilot for a period of three months from the date of the incident.

The incident took place in November 2019, where GoAir flight VT-WGR, landed off the runway at the Bengaluru airport amidst bad weather conditions. The aircraft carrying 170 passengers, which was plying between Nagpur and Bengaluru, had to initiate a go-around and land in Hyderabad after the incident. However, on landing the plane began veering off the runway and onto the grass-covered strip of land on one side of the runway.

During the go-around process, one of the engines stalled. The DGCA probe had concluded that after landing at Hyderabad, mud deposit had been found on the left landing gear, indicating that aircraft has rolled on an unpaved surface. Pending the DGCA probe, the two pilots were kept off flying duty.

The DGCA on Tuesday issued warning letters to over 150 GoAir pilots and also to the carrier’s head of operations. The DGCA issued these notices after conducting an audit of GoAir’s flight and duty time limitations to check if the company was making its pilots fly for more than the allowed 1,000 hours in a year and if they were made to fly more than two consecutive flights at night.

The DGCA had alleged that the carrier was violating safety norms, which led to pilot fatigue.

Comments by ASMSI

It was a very serious lapse on the part of Pilots and DGCA has taken the right decision by suspending the Pilots. However, when DGCA has established that the Airline has been violating safety norms, action should have also been taken against the Airline Management and Accountable Executive. There appears to be reluctance to take against the Accountable Executive and the Senior Management of the airline and Pilots are the first target for explanation/suspension.

 

Jan 12, 2020 06:46 PM IST

Air Asia Kolkata-Mumbai I5316 Flight Makes Emergency Landing at Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Airport After Hoax Bomb Threat

 

Kolkata, January 12: Air Asia flight from Kolkata to Mumbai made an emergency landing at the Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International (NSCBI) airport after a woman on board threatened to blow up the aircraft. The incident took place on Saturday night. The female passenger identified as Mohini Mondol, a resident of Salt Lake, was later arrested.  According to police, Mondol, who was on board Air Asia flight I5316, passed a note to a cabin crew member after 40 minutes of flying. She requested the crew to deliver the note to the pilot. The note said that bombs were strapped to her body and warned that she would detonate them any moment.

 

The pilot informed the air traffic controller (ATC) that aircraft is returning to Kolkata due to bomb threat. Reports said that the plane was taken to the isolation bay upon landing. The woman was arrested by the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF). No explosives were found on the plane

“There was no bomb strapped to her body. Further investigation is on. She is yet to divulge why she created the bomb scare, why was she going to Mumbai and why she wanted the flight to return to Kolkata,” a senior officer of the NSCBI Airport police station was quoted

 

 

 

 

 

January 13, 2020 07:40 pm IST

SpiceJet Plane Makes Emergency Landing In Chennai Due To Tech Problem

New Delhi: 

A SpiceJet plane today made an emergency landing at Chennai airport because of a technical problem. The plane was flying from Uttar Pradesh’s Varanasi.

All passengers are safe.

 

 16 Jan 2020

IndiGo Mumbai-Jaipur flight makes emergency landing

MUMBAI : A Jaipur-bound IndiGo flight from Pune made an emergency landing here on Thursday after it was diverted to the city due to a glitch in one of the engines of the Airbus A320 plane, a source said.

 

The number of passengers on board the flight could not immediately be known.

“The IndiGo flight which took off for Jaipur from Pune on Thursday morning was diverted to Mumbai after the pilot reported high engine vibrations in the aircraft mid-air. The flight made an emergency landing early morning,” the source said.

IndiGo, in a statement, confirmed the diversion of its Jaipur flight to the city’s Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport.

 

It, however, did not divulge the number of persons on board the aircraft.

“An IndiGo flight 6E-6129 (A320) operating from Pune to Jaipur was diverted to Mumbai this morning. During the flight, the pilot observed an engine vibration message and followed the laid standard operating procedures,” a spokesperson said in the statement.

 

The aircraft is currently under inspection at Mumbai, the spokesperson said adding that all passengers were accommodated on another aircraft which further operated to Jaipur.