Summary
- Air India failed an internal safety audit verified by the DGCA, which revealed significant lapses within the airline’s operations.
- The audit found that Air India falsified reports for all 13 safety checkpoints, with unauthorized signatures and non-compliance with mandated checks.
- Investigations are ongoing to find out the extent of the protection oversight, and the implications for Air India remain uncertain.
Air India recently got hit with quite an enormous glow after the flag carrier failed an internal safety audit upon further verification by a two-member surveillance team from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). In the course of the routine exercise, the aviation regulator determined significant lapses and is currently investigating this matter with the airline.
Dropping by to confirm
In response to Air India, all airlines must undergo routine safety audits conducted by regulatory and external entities to uphold and improve aviation safety. The flag carrier also emphasizes that it all the time proactively participates in these audits to repeatedly evaluate and enhance its operational procedures, making it no surprise for the DGCA to drop by with a surveillance team.
Under this internal safety audit, a listing of 13 checks on different points of Air India’s operations is usually carried out, including but not limited to policy changes, ramp operations, loading management, cargo handling, maintenance, and cabin surveillance. This implies the airline was mandated to conduct consistent safety spot checks on the desired 13 safety checkpoints and submit an inspection report back to the DGCA.
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Upon review of the submitted report, the aviation regulator will then deploy a surveillance team for extra verification of the spot checks – which occurred on July twenty fifth and twenty sixth. It’s price noting that for this round’s audit, neither Air India nor the DGCA detailed what the chosen list of safety checkpoints was.
Allegedly failing all checkpoints
In the course of the surveillance team’s enhanced verification of the unspecified 13 safety checkpoints, the 2 men established that Air India had falsified reports for each station. The fabrication was noticed after the spot check reports didn’t bear the signature of the Chief of Flight Safety – the one authority personnel who could log out such statements.
These reports as an alternative bore the signature of a Quality Management System Department auditor, who didn’t have the authority to achieve this because the department’s standards fell outside the scope approved and inspected by the DGCA. It was also found that the Chief of Flight Safety didn’t delegate the authority to anyone else, as there have been no electronic mail or authorization forms.
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To make matters seemingly worse, the surveillance team’s investigation would subsequently reveal through CCTV footage, auditee statements, official records, and passenger manifests that the airline allegedly didn’t perform the mandated regular checks. An example was the Pre-Flight Medical Examination, where alcohol consumption tests for pilots are conducted.
Although a physical visit was required because equipment details and test readings needed to be laid out in Air India’s report, it was discovered that Air India’s internal auditor didn’t pay any visits to the power. With out a visit, there could be no way of checking. And despite the dearth of such details for verification, the airline still allegedly marked all items as satisfactory to claim compliance.
Investigations are underway
One other example concerned the cabin surveillance spot checks, which were alleged to have been conducted by Air India on July sixteenth. Nevertheless, the DGCA surveillance team found that the supposed auditor who signed off on these checks was a flying passenger with relations on the said flight.
And when asked to supply the flight safety auditors’ list to the surveillance team, the Star Alliance member couldn’t produce one immediately. When it was finally delivered, the list only included auditors from the Quality Management Systems Department, all of whom weren’t stipulated by the aviation regulator’s higher standards.
Photo: Airbus
Given the alarming lapses found by the surveillance team from the DGCA, an investigation is undoubtedly already being carried out, as confirmed by the agency’s Director General, Vikram Dev Dutt. As for the flag carrier, Air India highlights it is going to personally address these matters with the aviation regulator. But there’s truthfully no telling as to what the implications could possibly be for such a severe safety oversight.