DGCA revises rules to check ‘bias’ in training

Mumbai: The Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has revised its rules governing assessment of co-pilots by senior pilots, designated as training captains. The move comes after the aviation regulator discovered that some of the trainer pilots could have shown bias while training juniors.

Training captains, who are from the industry, are engaged for assessing the skills of co-pilots and train the juniors before clearing them for flying. But an audit of training facilities came across instances of senior pilots giving preferential treatment to their favourites while imparting training.

The results of this partisan intention are alarming, found the audit. For instance, some co-pilots were given the go-ahead despite not completing mandatory hours of training, or having involved in an accident or failed breathalyser tests.

The audit revealed that the maximum number of violations were committed by Jet Airways, with 130 of its pilots flying without the mandatory check, followed by Air India (101 pilots), Air India Express (70), SpiceJet (10) and IndiGo with nine.
19/10/15 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror