From planes with 'worn out tyres' to runway with 'faded' central line: DGCA finds multiple violations related to airlines, airports

New Delhi: A plane operating on domestic route with "worn tyres", a runway with a "faded" central line marking, "unserviceable" bag trollies and life vests "not properly secured" beneath designated seats are among a slew of deficiencies found by Directorate General of Civil Aviation's (DGCA) surveillance carried out at major airports in less than two weeks after the Air India plane crash.

During the exercise at airports, including in Delhi and Mumbai, the regulator detected multiple violations related to airlines, airports, aircraft maintenance works, and repeated defects in multiple cases, as it looked into multiple critical areas such as flight operations, airworthiness, ramp safety, Air Traffic Control (ATC), Communication, Navigation and Surveillance (CNS) systems, and pre-flight medical evaluations.

Two teams led by the Joint Director General carried out the surveillance during night and early morning hours at the airports, a DGCA statement said on Tuesday. The statement did not name any airport or airline for the deficiencies the teams found but said it were communicated to the concerned.

During the checks, a team found that a domestic flight of a scheduled carrier had worn tyres and it was "released only after" the required rectification was carried out. The DGCA said a simulator was also found not matching with the aircraft configuration and that the software was not updated to the current version.

At an airport, it said the centre line marking of runway was observed faded, the rapid exit taxiway and green centre light were not unidirectional, the obstruction limitation data has not been updated for last three years and no survey has been performed despite many new construction around the vicinity of aerodrome and number of vehicles in the ramp area were found without speed governors. These vehicles were withdrawn.

The DGCA said there were multiple cases wherein the reported defects "reappeared many times" on the aircraft, indicating "ineffective monitoring and inadequate rectification".

"Ground handling equipment such as baggage trollies... were found unserviceable; Line maintenance stores, tool control procedures were not followed," it said adding, the work order was not followed during maintenance of aircraft.

During maintenance, it said safety precautions were found not taken by Aircraft Maintenance Engineer (AME) as per Aircraft Maintenance Manual (AMM) while at places, AME was not attending to the snag rectification. Defect reports generated by the aircraft system were also not found recorded in the technical logbook, the statement said.

"Several life vests were not properly secured beneath their designated seats," it said while noting that the comprehensive surveillance will continue in future to detect hazards in the aviation ecosystem, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said the findings have been communicated to the entities concerned for taking corrective actions within seven days.

Following the June 12 crash of Air India's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner in Ahmedabad, DGCA has also put in place a Comprehensive Special Audit framework for a "360-degree" evaluation of the country's aviation ecosystem and transcend the current practice of siloed assessment.