Rise in number of emergency landings: Patel

New Delhi, May 16 (UNI) The Government today said that seven incidents of tyre burst and nine cases of emergency landing due to technical defect were reported to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) between November 2005 and April 2006.

Minister of State (Independent charge) for Civil Aviation Praful Patel told the Rajya Sabha that some cases of tyre bursts had been reported at Delhi and Mumbai airports in respect of Indian (formerly Indian Airlines) and Air-India airplanes.

In a written reply, he said the airworthiness control and the safety oversight required to be exercised on the engineering activities by the operators were carried out by DGCA officers. All incidents and accidents were investigated and remedial action taken to avoid recurrence. If after investigation, it was found necessary by the DGCA and or the operator, responsibility was fixed and action taken against the persons concerned.

The Minister, however, denied that any aircraft had been grounded due to shortage of tools and technical staff. However, he said, six aircraft were grounded for scheduled checks and four aircraft were grounded due to non-availability of serviceable engines.

Regarding routine delay in flights, he told the House that all technical delays and cancellations were investigated and remedial action taken immediately. A meeting of representatives of operating departments at the regional level was held daily. At the base station, the delays were analysed carefully to identify repetitive snags and special maintenance action was immediately taken.

Similarly, punctuality of services were monitored on a daily basis at the Headquarters level.

The Minister said on the Kaw Committee report favouring the DGCA as the sole apex body for safety and economic revolution of the aviation sector, the government was of the view that DGCA's existing role and focus on safety regulation needed to be preserved and strengthened. It was not in favour of vesting the DGCA with the added responsibility of economic regulation as this was not connected in any way to the safety functions of DGCA.

Replying to another question on training of pilot graduates at flying clubs on Cessna 152 and Cessna 172 aircraft, Mr Patel said training was imparted on the Cessna aircraft for single engine training. Indira Gandhi Rashtriya Uran Akademi was having multi-engine KIng Air C-90 aircraft for advanced training. Further, DGCA has allotted 12 simulators to various flying institutes across the country.

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