Lets pour some wide cut aviation fuel over this thread. It may not be the DGCA, but the political players who are playing with fire.
ICAO Audit Of India Finds Fault With Safety, Training
ICAO told India in an audit 18 months ago that it was below world averages
on primary aviation legislation, safety oversight of airlines and the
qualifications and training of its technical personnel.
India responded with initial legislation to expand the powers of the
country's aviation regulatory authority — the office of the Director
General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). But a review of the ICAO's findings by
Aviation Week & Space Technology observes that many issues raised by the
audit, which was conducted in October 2006 and delivered last July, have
gone unanswered. Chances of significant action in the near future are
unlikely because political leaders are focused on elections less than a
year away.
Much of ICAO's report focuses on inadequate staffing levels to properly
oversee India's rapidly expanding commercial aircraft market. But it also
singles out conflicts of interest that could jeopardize safety.
The nation has 385 civil transports in service, with hundreds more on
order. A standard gauge would call for at least 50 flight operations
inspectors to meet current demand. Instead, the Flight Inspection
Directorate has only one position filled to oversee flight operations
across the Indian subcontinent.
Based in Delhi, the DGCA has four regional and 10 sub-regional offices. On
paper it is supposed to have 242 technical officers, but more than 40% of
those positions are vacant. Meanwhile, the Aerodrome Standards Directorate
has a 50% vacancy rate.
"There is no authority in India currently performing regulatory and
surveillance functions of the [air navigation service] providers," the ICAO
report said.
The government-owned Airports Authority of India (AAI) mixes responsibility
of overseeing the nation's air traffic control systems and the
administration and management of more than 80 international and domestic
airports. The fact that the DGCA also is a part-time board member of the
AAI "has the effect of limiting a clear separation of roles between the
aviation regulator" and the nation's air navigation services provider, ICAO
says.
DGCA does not have a communication, navigation and surveillance (CNS)
inspector to oversee maintenance and inspection of CNS facilities. Instead,
it relies on experts from the AAI when its representatives visit AAI
facilities for inspections, ICAO says.
India enacted legislation in November 2007 to expand its Aircraft Act to
permit the DGCA to perform safety oversight. It is to license personnel for
air traffic control and certification, inspection and regulations for
Communication, Navigation, Surveillance/Air Traffic management (CNS/ATM)
facilities. The amended Aircraft Act also raises penalties for
non-compliance. But much of that legislation remains to be carried out. A
runway safety program has not been implemented, and acceptable levels for
ATC safety within airspaces have not been set.
No defined training program has been set for technical personnel performing
safety oversight. Recurring training for licensing staff who oversee flight
operations, cabin safety and dangerous good inspections has not been set.
Although an ad hoc training program has been developed by the airworthiness
directorate, it is not fully implemented, the report says.
An abbreviated field training program has been adopted because of the
urgent need for air traffic controllers in rapidly expanding cities such as
Mumbai, where traffic movements have grown 40% over the past two years and
now exceed 600 per day. The abbreviated training program involves ATC
operators gaining a single rating with the expectation that they will gain
full performance training later, when additional staff is available to give
it to them. Normally, full-performance training is a five-year process.
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