DGCA now begins inspection of Jet Airways' training programme

Mumbai: Aviation regulator DGCA has begun inspection of the training programme of the beleaguered Jet Airways, a senior regulatory official has said.

As per the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) guidelines, all air operators are required to develop a training programme for their crew and dispatchers. It's also the responsibility of the operator to ensure that its training programme is complete, current, and in compliance with the DGCA guidelines.

"The DGCA has commenced a three-day inspection of Jet Airways' training programme. During the exercise, it will asses all aspects of its training programme and also find out whether the airline is in comliance to those norms which are part of the training manual," a DGCA official told PTI.

The inspections began on Monday and will continue till Thursday, the official added. The Naresh Goyal-controlled private airline, which is facing cash drought and has defaulted on the salary payments to its staff also did not have training chief for more than a month, the official claimed. When contacted, an airline spokesman said such an inpsection is a routine affair.

"Senior commander K Venkat Vinod currently heads our training establishement, having taken it over from Capt Veisheh Oberoi", the airline said in a text message to PTI.

The inspection, which comes on the back of a comprehensive financial audit of the cash-strapped Naresh Goyal-controlled carrier, assumes significance as off late its pilots have been involved in a spate of incidents, including the mid-air scare that took place last week at its Mumbai- Jaipur flight last week.

In a mid-air scare, a Jaipur-bound Jet Airways flight carrying 171 people had lost cabin pressure after the crew "forgot" to turn on a control switch leaving 30 passengers bleeding from ears and nose and forcing the aircraft to return to Mumbai.

It can be noted that on August 6, the DGCA had suspended the flying licence of two of its pilots for attempting to take off from a taxiway parallel to the runway at the Riyadh airport in Saudi Arabia.

As many as 148 people on board the Mumbai-bound Jet flight had escaped unhurt after the aircraft went off the runway following an aborted takeoff from there on August 3, the airline had said.

The pilots aborted the takeoff after they were informed about a "barrier" on the runway at a time when the plane was taxing at 100 knots and veered off the runway due to sudden stopping. The Saudi aviation authority is also conducting a safety probe into the incident along with India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.

Again on August 25, a London-bound Jet Airways flight from Delhi carrying 337 passengers had almost taken off without the air traffic control clearance. The incident came to light only on September 5, though and the airline had de- rostered its crew members.

The New Delhi-London flight was asked to abort takeoff after it was detected that it had rolled down from the runway for takeoff without taking ATC permission. The incident took place on August 25 at the Indira Gandhi international airport. The airline had confirmed the aborted takeoff and had taken its crew members off flying duty pending investigation.