India Forms its own aviation safety panel

Mumbai, Nov 18 (UNI) A 26-member National Aviation Safety team (NAST) has been formed by Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to review aviation safety-related issues.

The team which has been constituted in line with the Co-operative Development of Operational Safety and Airworthiness Project-South Asia (COSCAP-SA) Steering Committee decision, will be headed by Joint Director General Civil Aviation, A K Chopra, and draws experts from DGCA, Airlines industry and service providers, a recently-issued DGCA circular stated.

According to the DGCA, the newly-constituted panel has been mandated to review safety interventions that have been developed by South Asia Regional Aviation Safety Team (SARAST), and also analyze and develop recommendations on safety issues that are India-specific, and work closely with service providers, airlines, manufacturers, industry and labour associations, and other organizations concerned to ensure that interventions are implemented through a co-ordinated effort.

SARAST was constituted in January 2002 by the COSCAP-SA Steering Committee as a regional forum in order to play an active role in the global effort to reduce accidents and to examine and provide the regional mechanisms for approved safety interventions.

In addition to this, the Committee while acknowledging that there may also be some safety issues that were unique to a particular country, which may be better resolved in the context of national forum, had called for forming a country-specific group of experts in each SAARC participating country.

The ICAO Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP), which was reaffirmed by the 33rd Session of the ICAO Assembly in 2001, calls the need for a reduction in the rate of fatal accidents in air transport operations. The Plan also encourages States to foster regional and sub-regional safety groups for the purpose of furthering the global safety effort.

UNI