Aviation regulator considers tougher fines, safety ratings for charter operations India News

New Delhi: India may soon rank non-scheduled operator licenses (NSOPs) or charter and private jet operators based on their safety records after two crashes involving small charter planes in a month killed 12 people.While the ranking is intended to be published on the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) website, operators will now have to compulsorily disclose “critical safety information on their websites, including aircraft age, maintenance history and pilot experience”. This is done to ensure people are “fully informed” of the standards of the aircraft they charter.In addition, there will now be harsher penalties for operators who violate aircraft or crew usage regulations. While pilots found to be in violation of Flight Duty Time Limits (FDTL) or attempting to land below safety minimums may face a license revocation of up to five years, operators who fail to meet compliance standards will have their licenses revoked.The regulator met on Tuesday with all NSOP or charter/private jet operators to “address the recent surge in aviation accidents” and stressed the “urgent need for increased focus on safety”. The meeting identified non-compliance with standard operating procedures (SOPs), inadequate flight planning and training deficiencies as the main causes of the accident.Following the meeting, the DGCA issued “new measures aimed at implementing a zero-tolerance policy against security compromise within the NSOP sector.” These include:Put security ahead of business interests: Regulators have instructed that safety must supersede any commercial considerations, charter commitments or VIP movements. It reiterated that the captain’s decision to divert, delay or cancel a flight for safety reasons is final and must be respected by operators without commercial consequences.Strengthen oversight and accountability: Apart from DGCA’s safety ranking of NSOP and the latter’s disclosure of its fleet and crew information, the regulator will also intensify random cockpit voice recorder (CVR) audits and cross-verify fuel records and technical logs to detect unauthorized operations or falsified data. Managers and senior leaders will be held personally accountable for systemic breaches and safety lapses cannot simply be blamed on pilots,” the regulator said. Monitoring of older aircraft and aircraft that have changed ownership will now be intensified. NSOPs that operate their own maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) facilities will be audited. “Those found to lack adequate capabilities will be required to outsource maintenance to an approved organization.”The regulator found that weather-related accidents “are often caused by errors in judgment rather than the unpredictability of weather”. Operators must establish a real-time weather update system and strictly adhere to established standard operating procedures. Additionally, pilots’ recurrent training must place greater emphasis on weather awareness strategies and decision-making in uncontrolled environments.To address systemic weaknesses in decision-making and ensure operational discipline, regulators are implementing several emergency measures. “The message from NSOP operators was clear: either comply with all norms 100 per cent or hand over the license and go home. They have to comply or else they will be out of business,” a senior official present at the meeting said.