Unjustified pilot suspensions. Principles of Just Culture must be upheld and brazen misuse of aircraft rules stopped. Safety culture and trust must be promoted by DGCA and supported by all.
Sign the petition to support promotion of Just Culture
DGCA India has everything in their manuals which one would like to hear. The state safety policy talks about objectives, need for fostering and assist stakeholders in developing comprehensive Safety Management Systems (SMS) and will develop preventive safety strategies for the aviation system in an environment of a “just culture”.
I quote the India Safety Policy ” DGCA will implement proactive and as far as possible predictive strategies encouraging all stakeholders/ service providers to understand the benefits of a safety culture, which should be based on an inclusive reporting culture. DGCA will foster and assist stakeholders in developing comprehensive Safety Management Systems (SMS) and will develop preventive safety strategies for the aviation system in an environment of a “just culture”.
Unfortunately safety culture is at its infancy. At this precarious stage the trust between the pilots and the regulator has been broken by the brazen suspension of over 40 pilots for various reasons leading to incidents. It is not about protecting any one person but making an effort to understand the mindset and at least talk to the people responsible to find out the root cause rather than the symptom.
Huge resentment is brewing in the pilot community due to the high handedness of the regulator and unilaterally acting by taking advantage of the interpretation of a rule which permits them to suspend a license for any period of time.
I have written an appeal to the Director General and am hopeful that he will use his good office to uphold the tenets of safety and safety culture.
The letter addressed to the Director-General, Civil Aviation India
Sir,
The pilots involved in the incident in Malé in September 2018, where the aircraft landed on the wrong runway, were grounded for 9 months from the date of incident. Their license was suspended and marked with red ink for 9 months by DGCA. Is this fair? There was no CLEAR Notam, no information on ATIS, no information provided by ATC, inspite of many many go-arounds made before AND after this incident due to incorrect identification of the runway. I consider this as harsh punishment for a mistake made due to human error.
I have made a presentation at Hague at the International Society for Air Safety Investigators conference. I have shown them the other causes of wrong surface landings 9cognitive) which even NTSB did not investigate. The investigators do not find the root causes and try to pin the blame on the softest target, i.e. Pilot.
Can you send me the investigation final report?
No I don’t have it. But I have a picture of the 9 months suspension letter received by the pilots from DGCA.
They have to share the investigation report and the evidence. This is against their own rules. Then you have the appeal process. https://wp.me/p7Y3JB-1on
http://caa.gov.mv/beta003/accidents_incidents/2018_02_Final_report.pdf
Sir, this is the report published by Malé authorities.
This is hardly an investigation. Anyways, there is nothing about crew proficiency here, why did the DGCA take action? Any reason given?