An engineer busy chatting on his mobile had handed over charge to a subordinate, which resulted in damage to a Kingfisher plane last week
An engineer busy chatting on his mobile had handed over charge to a subordinate, which resulted in damage to a Kingfisher plane last week
With nearly 10 incidents of aircraft damage, reported in the past one year, due to the lackadaisical attitude of the ground staff, it seems aircraft are safer in the air than at the airport.u00a0
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An engineer chatting away on his mobile had handed over charge to a subordinate, which resulted in severe damage to the nose of a Kingfisher Airlines plane last Thursday.
Yesterday, it was an impatient Air India pilot who hit the aerobridge without shutting the main door of the aircraft.
Freak accident
A report prepared by the airport operator states that these freak incidents clearly reveal the lack of co-ordination between the pilot, ground engineer and tractor operator, that had made aircraft operations on the apron, less safer than in the air.
In the Air India IC 179 incident, airport sources informed that there was a last minute cargo operation on the aircraft. Once the operation was completed, the pilot erroneously assumed that all the doors were closed, and ordered the ground engineer to push back without realising that the aerobridge was not disconnected.
"This caused severe damage to the door, grounding the aircraft for repair," an airport official said.u00a0
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In another incident, an impatient AI pilot hit the aerobridge as he moved the aircraft without shutting the main door. The flight was grounded |
Spot checks needed
Aviation expert Vipul Saxena said that there was an urgent need on the part of DGCA to take serious note of these incidents and increase surveillance and spot checks.
"In addition, the airline's flight safety departments also need to carry out frequent checks, and also ensure proper implementation of the safety management system," he added.
Saxena suggested that MIAL should install CCTVs for apron operations to learn the lessons and also help the enquiry committee in revealing the actual reasons, Training on apron safety should be made compulsory for all who work on the apron area.
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