An FAA (Federal Aviation Administration) team is arriving shortly to audit the Indian aviation sector, and the Damocles sword is hanging over our heads. India, a leader in aviation some 30 years ago, is likely to be equated with nations that are found wanting in safety standards. The Minister in-charge of the aviation industry for the last five years, as well as those heading the DGCA and the Airports Authority of India, should worry about the possibility that India may be downgraded to Category 2.

During the 2004 general elections, the catch-phrase of one of the contesting parties was ‘India Shining’. The people’s verdict showed that a majority of Indians had seen through the true nature of that shine. India seemed to be ‘shining’ once again, until the global financial crisis brought everyone down from cloud nine. Indian aviation, meanwhile, went into overdrive, without considering that you need lower gears to tackle an uphill slope.

The Ministry’s mathematicians knew only one part of the science. That is, multiplication. Even the smallest numbers were projected as large achievements. Contracts and licences were dished out to meet those utopian projections.

One has got to be naïve to believe that transparency or accountability or truth is going to see the light of day.

In October 2006, the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) carried out a safety oversight programme in India. Their findings on the ‘omissions and commissions’ in Indian aviation were submitted to the Indian authorities. The aviation sector was found wanting in several areas, especially in safety oversight and qualification of key personnel in safety, operational oversight and air traffic management.

The one area where India was found well above the world average was in regulations and licensing. But, then, the DGCA had other ideas. The rules were bent or waived as a means to placate airline owners and Ministry officials. From a situation where regulations were a prime commodity we descended to a “as a rule, we waive” policy.

The important observations of the ICAO safety oversight audit report were:

Forty per cent of the current 242 established technical positions within the DGCA are vacant at present.

Many of the directorates are short-staffed and cannot accomplish all their assigned functions and responsibilities. For instance, the Aerodromes Standards Directorate has a 50 per cent vacancy rate, with positions repeatedly advertised for years, but is still unable to attract qualified applicants.

The Flight Inspection Directorate has only one flight operations inspector position filled to oversee the complete flight operation activity.

India should ensure that the DGCA has a sufficient number of qualified and experienced technical staff to perform effective safety oversight of the aviation industry.

The current recruitment process should be reviewed to ensure that the DGCA has, and retains, sufficient qualified staff to keep pace with the rapid growth of the sector, and to meet its national and international obligations.

The new procedures established by the Training and Licensing Directorate for conversion and validation of foreign licences include the requirement that a licence-issuing state should be contacted to verify the document’s authenticity prior to the conversion or validation of that licence. However, these procedures have not yet been implemented. This should be done quickly.

The DGCA has promulgated an AIC on runway incursions. However, a runway safety programme has not yet been established and implemented. There is an urgent need for this.

The DGCA, in consultation with the Ministry of Civil Aviation, submitted its response.

Here are some goals from the corrective action plan proposed by the Government in 2007:

To prepare annual surveillance programme taking into consideration the size and scope of the operations of each operator.

To nominate DGCA approved examiners to carry out checks as per the annual surveillance programme.

To carry out periodic review of the implementation of the annual surveillance programme.

To ensure that the established technical vacancies are filled in the DGCA.

We are into the first quarter of 2009 and neither the Ministry nor the DGCA has implemented any of the commitments made to the ICAO. It is a sad reflection on the country’s credibility and reputation that the sector is being downgraded because of the gross negligence and misleading information put out.

What are the implications of the downgrade? A look at the FAA Web site shows this:

Category 1 — Does comply with ICAO Standards: A country’s civil aviation authority has been assessed by FAA inspectors and has been found to licence and oversee air carriers in accordance with ICAO aviation safety standards.

Category 2 — Does not comply with ICAO Standards: The Federal Aviation Administration has assessed a country’s civil aviation authority and determined that it does not provide safety oversight of its air carrier operators in accordance with the minimum safety oversight standards established by the ICAO.

This rating is applied if one or more of the following deficiencies are identified:

The country lacks laws or regulations necessary to support the certification and oversight of air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards;

The CAA lacks the technical expertise, resources, and organisation to license or oversee air carrier operations;

The CAA does not have adequately trained and qualified technical personnel;

The CAA doesn’t provide adequate inspector guidance to ensure enforcement of, and compliance with, minimum international standards; and

The CAA has insufficient documentation and records of certification and inadequate continuing oversight and surveillance of air carrier operations.

Category 2 countries serving the US at the time of the assessment are: Guyana, Indonesia, Nauru, the Philippines, Serbia and Montenegro, Ukraine and, recently, Israel has been added to the list. For a country once held in great esteem in aviation by others in the region, it is a tragic let-down. Even Pakistan is a Category 1 nation!

Today, the aviation mess created during the past five years has been left in the hands of a new DGCA and a possible change in the Ministry team after the coming elections.

They have to realise that teamwork is required to clean up a mess and rebuild. We have the expertise in India to revive the glitter that has been dulled by incompetence and dishonesty. But this cannot happen unless transparency and accountability are built into the system.

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