Month: February 2021

Air India Express Accident At Andhra Airport Due To Pilot Error

Amaravati: A team of officials from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation visited the Vijayawada Airport at Gannavaram on Tuesday and conducted a preliminary investigation into the accident involving an Air India Express Boeing aircraft on February 20.

Official sources said pilot error caused the accident in which the Boeing aircraft suffered a minor damage on its right wing after it hit an electric pole while taxiing on the runway.

According to sources, a Canadian woman pilot commanded the flight when the accident occurred.

The aircraft landed from Doha, en route Tiruchirappalli, but all 64 passengers aboard were safe.

“The DGCA team launched a preliminary investigation into the accident and is probing various aspects. It has also inspected the damaged aircraft and spoke at length with the Canadian pilot,” the sources said but refused to divulge more details as “these things are confidential”.

 

With no takers for debt-ridden airline, Modi govt mulling sale of Air India’s profit-making subsidiaries.

As per sources, the government is planning to sell Air India’s profit-making subsidiaries first because despite multiple efforts, no one has come forward to buy the debt-ridden airline.

The government is preparing to put on sale Air India’s profit-making subsidiary, Air India Airport Services Limited (AI APS), National Herald has learnt.

Sources privy to the development told National Herald that the Finance Ministry is set to issue preliminary documents for the interested bidders soon.

The company, which was earlier called Air India Air Transport Services Limited, has been a profit-making firm since 2014.

 

Besides, as per the sources, other Air India subsidiaries like Air India Express – another profit-making venture mainly operating to and from the Middle East – and Air India Engineering Services Ltd may also be put on sale.

 

The sources claimed that the Modi government is planning to sell these profit-making subsidiaries first because despite multiple efforts, no one has come forward to buy the debt-ridden Air India.

 

As per the latest data, the AI APS which has 9,474 employees as of March 2019, earned a profit of Rs 63.8 crore during 2018-19.

“AI APS was incorporated in 2003 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Air India Limited for providing manpower for the various departments of Air India, including Ground Handling. Consequent to the Cabinet approval, AI APS has been operationalised with effect from 1 February 2013 as a Ground Handling Company,” reads the website of AI APS.

The AI APS provides ground-handling services such as handling of ramps, passengers, baggage, cargo and cabin for Air India and its associate firms at 81 airports across India, along with ground-handling services to 37 foreign scheduled airlines, three domestic scheduled airlines and four regional airlines.

We contacted Ashvini Kumar Sharma, CEO, AI APS for his comments. The story will be updated as and when he replies.

Meanwhile, sources also told NH that discontent is brewing against the privatization bid among the employees and the unions have planned a nationwide protest in coming days.

 

 

  Proactive Safety Initiatives by Aviation Safety India

 New Year Resolution – Mission 2021-SMS Training for all Aviation Stake Holders     

Greetings from Aviation Safety Management Society of India (ASMSI).

ASMSI is an All India Registered, Not for Profit Society, dedicated for the promotion of Aviation and Aviation Safety in the Country. ASMSI has been making concerted efforts to enhance the aviation related knowledge of Aviation Personnel through conduct of various types of Ground Training with particular emphasis on Safety Management System, Human Factors, Accident Prevention, Accident Investigation and Safety Audit. Our Website www.aviationsafetyindia.com is loaded with plenty of material related to Aviation and Aviation Safety knowledge for the benefit of Aviation Professionals.

Safety Management System is a proven Management System for the promotion of Safety Culture in an organisation and prevention of Accident/Incidents. Unfortunately, the implementation of SMS among various stakeholders has been found wanting thus depriving them of the immense benefits of SMS.

The scope of SMS training includes all the personnel of an Operator right from CEO down to the lowest level of an employee in a Company. Safety concerns everyone and everyone has a role to play in ensuring good safety standards in an organisation. Hence, SMS training for all the personnel of an Operator including from Finance, HR and Admin Departments etc. is of paramount importance.

Most of the Operators get only those personnel trained for SMS who have been mandated by DGCA i.e., Accountable Executive/Manager, Chief of Flight Safety, Deputy Chief of Flight Safety, SMS Manager, Quality Manager in addition to Pilots and Cabin Crew. This leaves a large segment of an Operators employees who remain ignorant about the concept and advantages of SMS, which is not conducive for promotion of Safety. In an Aviation Organisation, Safety is everyone’s responsibility and hence everyone should be educated about the various safety related issues to enable them to contribute towards accident/incident free operations.

Most of the Operators have limited financial and human resources and are always hard pressed to spare the manpower and spend money towards the SMS training. This is a genuine problem faced by the Operators which compels them to avoid getting all their personnel trained since it involves expenditure which most of the Operators are unable to afford.

ASMSI has been pondering over the issue of financial constraints faced by the Operators and how to help and encourage the Operators to get their entire employees trained on SMS.

After due deliberations and in furtherance of its objectives, ASMSI has taken a decision to impart SMS training to all the employees of the Operators and other Stake Holders in Aviation, free of cost at their convenience, Online. In fact, ASMSI has made a New Year Resolution “Mission-2021 SMS Training for all” and we are keen to provide free SMS training to all the personnel of Aviation Industry during 2021.

In the recent past, number of progressive Aviation Organisations have made use of our offer for free SMS  training and ASMSI has trained number of Aviation professionals free of cost from following Organisations:

(a) Air India Flight Safety Department including Executive Director, Air Safety, Air India.

(b) Airport Authority of India FIU including ED FIU.

©   Tata Steel Aviation Limited.

(d)  Bajaj Auto Aviation.

(e)  Air Taxi.

(f)  Redbird Aviation.

(g)  Thumby Aviation Pvt Limited.

(h)  Australian Aviation Safety Department.

(j) VSR Ventures.

(k) Jet Serve

(l) Number of individuals from various Aviation related Departments.

Our “Mission 2021, Free SMS Training for All, is to reach out to maximum number of personnel from Aviation Industry to give the needed impetus towards implementation of SMS in a professional and effective manner to enhance Aviation Safety Standards in the country.

We would request all the Operators and other personnel from Aviation industry to make use of this opportunity to avail free high standards of SMS training, without any reservation. Training will be conducted based on the convenience of the personnel and will be planned accordingly.

DGCA has been making concerted efforts to achieve high standards of Safety, education and awareness in the country through various Pro-Active initiatives. ASMSI is keen to complement the sustained efforts of DGCA which is making tremendous efforts to manage such a large Aviation Industry in an effective and professional manner.  We request the guidance, support and cooperation of DGCA to help us in achieving our Mission -2021, Free SMS Training for all.

All the Aviation Personnel  are requested to give their SMS Training requirements to aviationsafetyindia1@gmail.com. Telephone 9871251590,8178431060.

Many Many Happy Landings

Thanking you

Air Commodore BS Siwach AVSM YSM VM (