Mobile phone led to recent plane damage

An engineer busy chatting on his mobile had handed over charge to a subordinate, which resulted in damage to a Kingfisher plane last week

Mobile phone led to recent plane damage

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 ground staff, it seems aircraft are safer in the air than at the airport. Thankfully, it hasn't caused loss to human life yet.

An engineer chatting away on his mobile had handed over charge to a subordinate, which resulted in severe damage to a Kingfisher Airlines plane's nose gear last Thursday.

"The pilot released the brakes and the tow-bar tractor propelled forward and came in contact with the nose gear, which was damaged as a result," said another official present at the scene of the incident.
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Yesterday, it was a hurrying 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 pilot, ground engineer and tractor operator, that had made aircraft operations on the apron, less safer than in the air.

In the Air India incident, airport sources informed that there was a last minute cargo operation on the aircraft. Once the operation was completed, the hurrying pilot erroneously assumed that all the doors were closed, and ordered ground engineer to push back without realising that the aerobridge was not disconnected.
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"This caused severe damage to the door, grounding the aircraft for repair," an airport official said.u00a0

"Pending investigation, Air India has taken action to de-roster two pilots, one aircraft maintenance engineer and one technician.

Also one push back tractor operator involved in this incident has been suspended," Air India's executive director Jitendra Bhargava said.

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 stricter surveillance and spot checks.

"In addition, the airline's flight safety departments also need to carry out more frequent surveillance, and also proper implementation of safety management system," he added.

Saxena suggested that MIAL should install CCTV for apron operations to learn the lessons and also help the enquiry committee in revealing the actual reasons and training on apron safety should be made compulsory for all who work on apron.

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