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Air India faces 51 safety lapses in DGCA audit, gets deadline for fixing
The DGCA report said that seven "Level I" significant breaches needed to be fixed by July 30 and 44 other non-compliances needed to be resolved by August 23.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has found 51 safety lapses at Air India, including lack of adequate training for some pilots, use of unapproved simulators and rostering system.
The lapses were mentioned in an 11-page confidential audit report prepared by the aviation watchdog this month, Reuters reported. Air India has yet to comment on the report.
However, the report is part of an annual audit and is not linked to the investigation into the deadly Boeing 787-8 crash last month.
The audit report from the DGCA said that seven "Level I" significant breaches needed to be fixed by July 30 and 44 other non-compliances classified needed to be resolved by August 23, the report said.
Also Read: DGCA issues 4 show cause notices to Air India for cabin crew rest, duty norms violations: Reports
The findings in the report come a month after Air India's Boeing 787-8 aircraft, bound for London, crashed in Ahmedabad, killing 260 people. However, the annual audit was not linked to the investigation related to the deadly crash.
The DGCA officials said they found "recurrent training gaps" for some unspecified Boeing 787 and 777 pilots, who had not completed their monitoring duties, where they are made to observe the functioning of instruments in the cockpit before they can start flying.
The report also flagged operational and safety risks and said that Air India did not do "proper route assessments" for some Category C airports, which have difficult layouts or terrain. The airliner only conducted stimulator training for such airfields, which doesn't meet qualification standards, the report added.
"This may account to non-consideration of safety risks during approaches to challenging airports," Reuters quoted the DGCA audit report as saying.
The latest report comes a week after DGCA issued four show cause notices to Air India for multiple violations regarding cabin crew rest, duty norms, training rules and operational procedures.
The show cause notices were issued by the DGCA came after the airline’s voluntary reporting of the violations on June 20 and 21.
The notices cited a total of 29 violations, including pilots not being given mandatory rest, poor compliance with training requirements and lack of training for a high-altitude airport, according to Reuters.
Reacting to the fresh report, Air India reportedly said it was "fully transparent" during the audit and that it will "submit its response to the regulator within the stipulated time frame, along with the details of the corrective actions".
