Independent aviation safety board, DGCA overhaul needed: Ex-Air India pilot
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New Delhi: India needs an independent aviation safety board and a fundamental overhaul of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to strengthen aviation safety oversight, Federation of Indian Pilots founding president and former Air India pilot Minoo Wadia said on Sunday.
Speaking to IANS, Wadia said concerns about the structure and functioning of the aviation regulator were not new and had been raised with the government repeatedly over several decades.
He said the Federation of Indian Pilots had written to the Prime Minister and the Ministry of Civil Aviation on several occasions, seeking reforms to strengthen aviation safety.
According to Wadia, two key measures are required: setting up an independent aviation safety board and completely restructuring the DGCA.
Explaining the concerns behind the demand, Wadia said that when he joined Air India after serving in the Air Force, the DGCA had no aviators in its office and was largely staffed by bureaucrats. He questioned how aviation safety could be effectively regulated without sufficient technical and operational expertise within the regulator.
He stressed that aviation is a highly technical sector and requires regulators with extensive knowledge of aviation and practical operational experience.
While acknowledging that some changes have taken place over the years, Wadia said the DGCA's overall structure and approach had not evolved sufficiently to meet the expanding requirements of the aviation industry.
On turbulence experienced during a Phuket-Delhi flight, Wadia said turbulence is a common occurrence in aviation and can result from different weather conditions.
He explained that severe turbulence is often associated with cumulonimbus cloud formations, while clear-air turbulence can occur even in the absence of visible clouds.
Wadia said turbulence can occur on flights anywhere in the world and that cloud-related turbulence is among the common forms encountered during air travel.
With IANS inputs