A Ray of Hope

While an independent investigating agency may be years away, there is at least some light at the end of the tunnel

Addressing a gathering at the inaugural ceremony of India Aviation 2010 on March 3, 2010, Civil Aviation Minister Praful Patel said, “India needs 400 airports and 3,000 aircraft in the next 10 years.” He was careful not to state whether the civil aviation sector was actually capable or would even attempt to scale such heights in the relatively short timeframe.

The demand levels stated by the Minister would have undoubtedly appeared mouth-watering for the industry, but seems to be more in the regime of fantasy than fact. In the last seven years as the real boom in the airline industry began as it embarked on an unprecedented growth trajectory, there has been a fivefold increase in the number of airliners, a large extent attributable to the private sector.

However, tragically, the government controlled infrastructure segment has grown at a painfully tardy pace leading to a degree of chaos in the industry on the ground and more importantly in the air. Infrastructure growth has been slow as the investments required are colossal, government control somewhat crippling, and returns low or uncertain.

But the real danger incubating in the wake of unbridled growth is the vital aspect of ‘safety in civil aviation.’ If the mismatch in the rate of growth in the size of the fleets and the supporting infrastructure accentuates, safety of the passengers is likely to be compromised further. But infrastructure is only one of the many problem areas that adversely affect the Indian civil aviation industry.

The other areas of concern are inadequacy and doubtful quality of human resource, particularly amongst those engaged in flying, maintenance and air traffic control, questionable airworthiness standards, unsatisfactory meteorological support, declining standards of training, indiscipline, poor quality of supervision, incomplete documentation and improper compliance with regulations.

But perhaps the weakest link in the system is the absence of an independent authority outside the control of the Ministry of Civil Aviation to investigate accidents involving civil aircraft in India. Currently, the responsibility for investigating accidents lies with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the regulatory authority functioning under the Ministry of Civil Aviation, also responsible for oversight of all civil aviation activity in the country including ‘air safety’. This arrangement is obviously incongruous as there lurks a possibility that the investigation could be biased on account of vested interests, especially if the DGCA or any of its organs is held culpable in any ways. In such a case, the issues may be deliberately obfuscated and the real cause of the accident may never be known.

Despite the felt need and long-standing demand from the aviation community in the country for an independent accident investigation authority, the government has never seriously considered creating such an organisation. There are a number of models available in the developed world to learn from and the government is wellempowered to create such an organisation.

The inaction on the part of the government in this regard clearly indicates that it is not inclined to rock the boat lest an independent accident investigation board exposes the ills and inadequacies of not only the civil aviation authorities in India, but also the national flag carrier Air India whose constituents have been notching up one major accident involving large-scale fatalities every three and a half years over the last 22 years and would be of immense interest to an independent investigating agency.