Indigo’s UK training facility deficient: DGCA

Indigo airlines has been asked to cease sending their pilots for training to a simulator facility in the United Kingdom which has been found deficient during inspection by aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).

Such action has been taken for the first time by DGCA after technical glitches were found in May in the Coventry simulator facility. Besides Indigo, other carriers, including SpiceJet, GoAir, Vistara and Air Asia, send their pilots to training facilities abroad. Airline sources confirmed that 50 pilots have been trained at the Coventry unit in the last one year

DGCA officials said that airlines use the simulator facilities abroad to train pilots in non-normal training, like engine failure and low visibility training, since the same cannot be carried out on a real airplane. “Simulator facilities offer safer flight training, fuel conservation, reduction in adverse environmental effects and reduced cost of training to the operators,” DGCA M Sathiyavathy said.

According to rules, DGCA permits usage of aircraft flight simulators for various training purposes of flight crew, such as initial, refresher, recurrent, transition, up-grade and others, which may be given credit towards the flight training requirements for issue and renewal of flight crew licenses, endorsements and ratings. They also prove useful in the training of check pilots, instructors and examiners. “It is, therefore, necessary that performance of the simulators be evaluated prior to the approval for use,” a DGCA official said.
29/06/16 Aditya Anand/Mumbai Mirror