Aviation News May 15 2011

Air India Express flight 812: An investigation gone hauntingly wrong

On 22nd of this month, it will be one year after the tragic crash of Air India Express IX-812 at Mangalore that killed 158 people.

It seems the last major news break related to the accident was duly celebrated by the media with the submission of the investigation report by the Court of Inquiry (CoI) on 16 November 2010, five months after it was constituted. Thanks to the selective and somewhat precisely scheduled leaking of certain parts of the report to the press, now everyone is aware that the crash happened because the 'Serbian' commander of the aircraft was asleep for the first 100 minutes of the flight.
Though the relatives and dependents of more than 100 dead passengers are yet get compensation, the public already has accepted the crash as a well concluded story.

So there shouldn't be much left to write an anniversary story.

But no news reporter who had followed the story from the beginning can leave it thus.

It never was something as simple as an expatriate pilot causing a horrific crash by simply sleeping at the controls.

There were many, many things the public was never properly made aware of, about the crash.
The incomplete, erroneous way the court of inquiry conducted the investigation too should have been laid bare before the people of India.

The aviation reporters of the country by now should already have asked themselves why the manufacturer of the crashed craft was never questioned or investigated.

The media should also have investigated Capt. Zlatco Glusica in his home country.

Air India Express and Air India the parent airline too were never sufficiently subjected to unbiased scrutiny of the mass media.

It was a phone call from a 'law maker', as they say, of the country, that made me to start worry about the whole business of the CoI which was appointed by the govt of India on 3 June 2010.

Soon after the CoI was constituted, three of the members of the CoI had flown to US to 'decode' the content of the two back boxes- the DFDR and CVR- at the facility of NTSB.

It was after two weeks of their return to India that I got the call.
That was in July.
He was very excited. He said one of the pilots had fallen asleep during the flight and his snoring and all was there in the CVR. Loud and clear.
That sure was news.
But I had to be sure. Okay, how he came to know about it? Well, that was simple. It was a fellow lawmaker, who happened to own a major private airline who revealed that to him. One of the members of the CoI was an employee of that particular airline and after hearing the CVR in US, he right away told his boss all about the unbelievable content.

But the Associate Editor of the Daily where I was working was not that adventurous to print this explosive exclusive straightaway.

No proof- he calmly pointed out. So let us wait.

And our wait prolonged well in to first week of September 2010.
Coinciding with the second hearing of CoI at the national capital from September 6 to 9, this particular info was leaked to the press. All channels broke the news for the whole day. Dailies celebrated it on 8th.
Though many veteran pilots who testified in that session of the hearing told the CoI that sleeping in the cockpit, was not that alarming or dangerous, that never was got prominently reported. Some commanders had even pointed out that it was a healthy practice for the pilots to sleep taking turns under 'controlled conditions'. A little sleep would only raise the level of alertness.
On their part, the CoI too seemed to be agreeing with those observations. Many of the experts who attended the hearing too had noted that. It was a kind of reassurance for them that the investigation was proceeding in a scientific, unbiased manner.

But the fact remained that one of the members of the CoI who was pledged to secrecy, had way back revealed this sensitive info in a very callous manner to his boss who was the owner of rival airline of Air India Express.
And the way the 'sleep news' was planted in to selected national media too was reason to worry.
Especially because the taped conversation between the pilots of the aircraft and Mangalore ATC too had found it way to some media as early as June 2 , well before the CoI's first hearing at Mangalore airport from August 17-19.

None could fail to notice that leaked content of both the tapes were highly incriminating Capt. Zlatco Glusica, the Commander of the crashed flight.

A pattern was beginning to emerge, for those who were closely watching the investigation.

15/05/11 Jacob K Philip/Decision Height

AI crew squabble mid-air

Mumbai: An argument over resting time between two cabin crew personnel on board an Air India flight from Delhi to Chicago on Friday lead to a safety violation that could have risked the lives of 250 passengers, apart from affecting in-flight services. According to the reports, the Hindustan Times has copies, Mayank Sharma, a cabin crewmember had a verbal spat with his senior SK Marwah, a flight purser, because the latter refused to allow the mandatory five-hour rest to crew on board.
The aviation regulator’s rules states that crew operating ultra-long haul flights such as this one should compulsorily get five hour rest on board.
However, Marwah permitted the crew rest for only three hours and 30 minutes citing the airline’s flight operation manual. "This shows that either the airline does not follow rules made by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) or that Marwah was taking us for a ride,” said a cabin crewmember requesting anonymity as it is against their company policy to talk to the media.
The squabble had an immediate impact on passenger service. "There was delay in food and liquor service because the crew was too busy arguing with each other,” said another crewmember witness to the incident.
15/05/11 Soubhik Mitra/Hindustan Times

Chopper rides in Mumbai now a breeze

Mumbai: With helicopter joy rides becoming affordable, Mumbaikars are taking to the skies to celebrate and surprise their friends and families.
On May 7, Rohil Paralkar, 26, decided to surprise his parents on their wedding anniversary. "My parents have never flown before, even on a flight. So I thought it would be nice to book them on a chopper joy ride on their special day,” said Paralkar, an advertising executive who stays in Sewri.
Airnetz Aviation is a charter/chopper provider that offers joy rides for an hour in Mumbai skies. "I had been inquiring with Airnetz about joy rides but they were too expensive.This month when I called up, I found out that prices were as low as Rs7,500 per person,” he said, adding, "So I thought I can really surprise my parents and give them an hour of adventure on their special day.They were so thrilled and found Mumbai fascinating from the clouds.”
Even Sameer Tandon (24) an MBA student from Prabhadevi, booked a joy ride for his girl friend on her birthday on May 3."Being an adventurous person, I wanted to do something different for her.
15/05/11 Naveeta Singh/Daily News & Analysis

100 reasons for Air India to worry

Mumbai: A day after MiDDAY reported that the Air India pilots' 10-day strike had been called off after a meeting on May 6 with AI management and Aviation Ministry officials without any mention of corruption charges (Corruption Crusade Merely an Eyewash), the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) is drafting a 100-point letter detailing instances of corruption by the management, which they intend to send to the Union Civil Aviation Ministry this week.
The ICPA claims is taking the step at the behest of the aviation ministry officials who had met them on May 6.
"The civil aviation ministry had asked for our feedback on charges of corruption. We are preparing a letter that will detail 100 points of corruption occurring in the national carrier," a senior official of pilot body said on condition of anonymity. The letter will highlight corrupt practices and suggest ways to bring the national carrier back to health, he added.
"Questions will include why Air India withdrew its operations in profitable sectors and whether it was done to benefit private carriers. We will also request an investigation on the acquisition of new aircrafts that benefits only one manufacturer," he said.
The AI spokesperson refused to comment.
15/05/11 Bipin Kumar Singh/MiD DAY

BSF team visits helicopter crash site in Sirohi

Jaipur: A BSF team comprising of technical experts on saturday visited the site in Sirohi district in Rajasthan to probe the helicopter crash that left four people dead.
The mishap took place on Friday when the helicopter crashed in the hills of village Fatehpura near Abu Road here in the Sirohi district, killing all the four occupants, including the pilot.
"A BSF team headed by an IG rank official reached the crash site today and investigated the matter to ascertain the causes behind the incident," BSF DIG (Rajasthan Frontier) R C Dhyani told PTI.
"The occupants of the helicopter were identified as Captain Bal (pilot), co-pilot Vivek Choudhary (Deputy Commandant- BSF), BSF's Sub-Inspector Sohan Lal and an engineer of Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited S S Chopra," he said.

Four Army personnel were killed on April 22 in a Dhruv helicopter crash in north Sikkim near the Sino-India border.
The mishap occurred just three days after a Russian-origin MI-17-2 chopper, owned by Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited, crashed claiming 17 lives after it took off from Guwahati for Tawang.
Another Pawan Hans helicopter had crashed in Arunachal Pradesh on April 30 killing Chief Minister Dorji Khandu along with four others. The wreckage was located on May 4.
14/05/11 Press Trust Of India/IBN Live

Finally, a clear view for radar at city airport

Ahmedabad: Finally, Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) woke up and razed to ground eight illegal structures obstructing the radar at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. AMC has in last three days brought down first floors of eight tenements in Nataraj Society of Kubernagar near the air traffic control radar.
"To achieve accuracy, it is necessary that the electromagnetic waves from the radar are not obstructed wholly or partially by any intervening structure. The structures created a block in the radar range. We had complained to AMC some six months back about the illegal construction," said a senior air traffic control official. Last year, a partial closure of this radar for around five hours had the officials on tenterhooks.
AMC has also demolished more than 40 houses between Meghaninagar and Kubernagar to clear the area near airport in the last one week. The waste dumped from the houses close to the city airport attracted birds, monkeys and dogs which posed serious threat during landing and taking off of the aircrafts.
15/05/11 Ankur Jain/Times of India

What was this revolver doing with airport peon?

Mumbai: The Mumbai police arrested an airport attendant on Friday for selling a country-made revolver to a client at a hotel near the Khar Police Station. The police, who had been tipped off by an informer had set a trap to arrest the him. Omprakash Bagdi (50) worked at the Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport for 25 years as an attendant. He confessed to the police that he has been dealing in arms for the past 10 years. The police suspect Bagdi is also part of a gang that carries out contract killing. However, Bagdi has reportedly refused to divulge the name of the gang he works for.
On Friday, the police received information that Bagdi was meeting a client at Krishna Chaya hotel in Khar at 8 pm. They followed him and nabbed him before he delivered a country-made revolver to the client.
15/05/11 Sayed Roshan/MiD DAY

Cargo loader at IGI airport held for stealing bike

New Delhi: Delhi Police have arrested a cargo loader for stealing a bike from the parking of Indira Gandhi International Airport. The accused, Sanjay, was caught from New Rohtak Road during routine checking by Central district police. "During checking, around 10.20pm on Friday, one person riding a TVS Apache was stopped. On verification,
he could not give any satisfactory reply to our questions nor could he produce any documents in support of ownership of the motorcycle. We later found that the motorcycle was stolen from the parking of the Delhi airport,” Vivek Kishore, DCP (central) said.
14/05/11 Hindustan Times

Airlines liable to compensate passenger for delay due to fog

New Delhi: Airlines are liable to compensate its passengers for delays caused due to bad weather even though there may be no deficiency of service on their part, a city consumer forum has held.
A Delhi District Consumer Court gave this ruling while directing Oman Aviation Services to pay Rs 25,000 to a lawyer and his wife, who had to wait at Delhi Airport for 10 hours in December 2005 as their flight was delayed due to fog and low visibility.
"After going through the material on the record, we find that though there is no deficiency of service on the part of Oman Aviation Services, yet long waiting at the airport caused tiredness and inconvenience to the passengers, who felt frustrated and harassed.
"In these circumstances, to meet the end of consumer justice, we direct the Oman Aviation Services to pay a compensation of Rs 10,000 to each of the complainants (the advocate and his wife) and Rs 5,000 towards litigation expenses," a district consumer court bench headed by C K Chaturvedi said.
The court passed its order on a complaint filed by advocate Hardev Lal Kapur and his wife Sudesh Kapur, who had planned a trip from Delhi to United Arab Emirates via Muscat in December 2005.
14/05/11 PTI/Economic Times

SpiceJet promoter pledges 17.33% stake

Mumbai: Low-cost carrier SpiceJet today said one of its promoters KAL Airways has pledged over seven crore shares of the company, representing 17.33 per cent stake in the airline.
KAL Airways, a private firm owned by media baron and Sun TV chief Kalanithi Maran, has pledged its over 7.02 crore shares of SpiceJet, the airline said in a filing to the BSE. Of this, over 1.01 crore shares were pledged on April 27, the filing said, but it did not give the details of with whom the shares had been pledged.
The KAL Airways has over 15.65 crore shares in the airline. In June, 2010 the Sun TV Chief had clinched a deal to acquire a 37.7 per cent stake in the airline for about Rs 750 crore from American investor Wilbur Ross, his investment companies and the Kansagara family-promoted Royal Holding Services Ltd.
15/05/11 Press Trust of India/Indian Express

Turkish Airlines shuns GSA route

New Delhi: In its global expansion plans, Turkish Airlines has decided to open its own office in India instead of operating through a general sales agency (GSA). InterGlobe Aviation is the GSA for the airline in India.
"We are working out plan for expansion in India,” said Adnan Aykac, general manager of Turkish Airlines in India. Turkish Airlines is the national carrier of Turkey and operates in 139 international and 42 domestic cities of Europe, Asia, Africa and the US.
Aykac said the airline will take delivery of 22 aircraft by the end of the current calendar year and would not need leased aircraft. The airline has taken four Boeing 777s on lease from Jet Airways and the lease period will expire this year. "We will take delivery of 12 Boeing 777s and 10 Airbus 330s this year and may not need to continue operating with leased aircraft,” said Aykac.
Jet Airways, India’s largest carrier in terms of passenger carriage, said it has informed Turkish Airlines that the lease would not be extended. "Jet Airways will induct two Boeing 777 aircraft into its operations and has entered into an agreement with Thai Airways for the lease of the remaining two. The aircraft will be leased for two years with an option to extend for a year,” said an email reply from the airline.
15/05/11 Mihir Mishra/Business Standard

Caged Surtis flap on Facebook for airport

Surat: Tired of being let down time and again after repeated assurances of promised air connectivity, Surtis have begun to voice out on Facebook by forming a group called 'We want a working airport at Surat'. The movement has got immense support by Surtis around the world and has grown from 80 to a whopping 600 plus members and counting.
Begun with the simple lines 'Dreaming a day when no need to catch a train after a long wait at Borivali station. Just land directly on our own airport', two months ago, the group was started by an NRI Surti youngster - Priyank Desai - who lives in Armenia.
Discovered by a Surti businessman Manoj Singapuri on Facebook on Thursday evening, it is now spreading like wildfire. "I chanced upon it while searching for information on Surat airport, day before yesterday. It had 80 members protesting and I added my entire group of friends to it. Since then, I have been constantly posting official numbers and data regarding this issue. Even the smallest of cities like Dibrugarh and Agartala have at least 6 flights each," says Singapuri.
Overnight, strong comments as well as online links to news articles where politicians have made false promises in the past have been posted on the FB group wall.
14/05/11 Ashleshaa Khurana/Times of India

Airlines asked to explain on price hike by May 25

New Delhi: Officials of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) will meet private airline officials May 25 to seek their explanation on the sudden hike in fares during the 10-day strike by Air India pilots, an official said.
"Our officers will meet them on May 25. That day we will seek replies from them. This new date was set after our first meeting on Friday, when the airlines' officials requested for more time," a senior official with the competition watchdog said Saturday.
Earlier, notices were issued by CCI seeking an explanation from private sector airlines on allegations that they hiked fares to cash in on the strike when thousands of passengers, stranded after their Air India flights were cancelled, had to shell out between 50 percent and 75 percent more for bookings.
"The CCI is currently probing all angles like collusion and predatory pricing. They are expected to give a report by 60 days," the official said.
Passengers complained that the base fare on a Delhi-Mumbai flight, which goes up to Rs.2,400-Rs.3,000 for last-minute bookings, had gone up to as much as Rs.7,500 on some airlines, resulting in a total one-way cost of Rs.11,500, including various levies.
14/05/11 IANS/Economic Times