Scares in the skies, run-ins on runways
February 10, 2009 – 4:05 am|
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MUMBAI: Monday’s scare at Mumbai airport wasn’t the first and may not be the last. But since it involved a VIP, none less than the President of
India, it may hopefully lead to introduction of better safety systems. The incident, involving an Air India aircraft and President Pratibha Patil’s helicopter entourage in which the A-321 screeched to a halt barely 300 metres away from disaster, is being investigated by A K Chopra, joint director general, DGCA. Recommendations to prevent such incidents are likely to follow.
The growing congestion in the skies has brought with it an increase in near-misses in the last five years. From 13 near-misses reported in 2003, there were 15 in 2004, 21 in 2005 and 26 in 2006. Interestingly, a majority of the incidents involved civilian and defence aircraft.
Though a majority of these near-misses were reported in the skies, globally there has been an increasing trend among air traffic agencies to make runway safety the top priority, due to a rise in number of runway incursions. For instance, the National Transportation Safety Board in the United States placed runway safety on its “most wanted” list of improvements for 2008.
The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) defines a runway incursion as any unauthorised intrusion onto a runway, regardless of whether or not an aircraft presents a potential conflict. It categorises incursions from serious (Category A) to incidents that do not pose immediate risk (Category D). Monday’s incident in Mumbai would have come under Category A, say aviation observors.
A recent instance of Category A incursion was on January 15 this year, when four crew members of a Russian military aircraft were killed when their Il-76 was struck by another Il-76 taxiing at Makhachkala Airport in southern Russia.”The global average for a reject take-off is once every six months. Though it is a rare occurence our crew training standards are very high and we do reject take-offs on simulators every six months,” said a source from the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA), the pilots union for Indian.
Air safety consultant Capt A Ranganathan blamed the growing instances of near-misses on the severe shortage of Air Traffic Controllers (ATCs) in the country. “There is a severe shortage of ATCs. What’s more, they have no duty time limitations unlike in the US, Singapore, Japan and Europe. So you could have a tired ATC who might miss out a critical point, or trainees may be used to meet the shortage,” he said. India currently needs 800 more ATCs.
On the Mumbai, Capt Ranganathan said airmanship requires that the pilot should always look ahead on the take-off path. “The pilot is trained to take care of the flight path. So if you see birds or another aircraft, it your job to react. It is part of your duty.”
On its part, the DGCA will act once the investigation in this case is over. Earlier, in 2006, 21 foreign pilots were sent back by the DGCA after they failed the English fluency test. In 2008, it adopted the ICAO norm making the English Language Proficiency Test mandatory for all pilots.