The Supreme Court on Friday said no one blamed the chief pilot of the Air India Dreamliner for the June 12 crash, which claimed 260 lives, and asked his 91-year-old father not to carry any emotional burden.
Soon after the takeoff, the pilot of ill-fated Air India aircraft gave a Mayday call to the Ahmedabad air traffic controller.
Even as New Delhi turns up the heat on Turkish firms over Ankara's public embrace of Islamabad, Indian companies rooted in Trkiye are staying put. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), Dabur India, and Jubilant FoodWorks say it's business as usual, with no plans to alter course despite the geopolitical chill.
Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday said Air India's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, which faced fuel control switch glitch, took off from London on February 1 after the crew carried out a physical check of the switch and that no abnormal parameters were observed during start of the engine or thereafter.
Indigo airlines cancelled 13 flights from Hyderabad airport, causing chaos and frustration among passengers. The cancellations were attributed to technology and operational issues.
Former Civil Aviation Minister and senior NCP leader Praful Patel on Wednesday questioned the "silence" of Singapore Airlines over the horrific crash of an Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner in Ahmedabad last week.
The DGCA has formed two specialised teams to internally monitor IndiGo's daily operations.
It is the first airport in the country to have multi-modal connectivity. This includes a linkage to the project via road, rail, and a metro system.
The DGCA will concentrate only on technical and safety aspects.
Seeking full utilisation of the Indian airspace, civil aviation authorities are in the process of training pilots and ATC personnel and introducing advanced technology to gradually reduce air distnce between two aircraft from 50 nautical miles to 15.
A five-member team, headed by Sanjay Kumar Singh, is probing the fatal crash of the Air India aircraft last month in Ahmedabad that killed 260 people. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has released its preliminary report and appointed the team.
Airlines must ensure that all check-in counters at the Delhi airport are fully staffed to minimise passenger inconvenience as smog has started affecting the flight operations, Aviation Minister Rammohan Naidu directed on Wednesday. The minister gave this direction during a meeting with representatives of major airlines, Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL), officials of the Ministry of Civil Aviation, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS).
Rudraprayag District Disaster Management Officer Nandan Singh Rajwar told PTI that the accident took place above the forests of Gaurikund amid poor visibility due to bad weather.
An Air India passenger allegedly urinated on a fellow traveller during a flight from Delhi to Bangkok on Wednesday. Air India has reported the incident to the authorities (DGCA) and is investigating the matter. The airline has also stated that its crew followed all laid down procedures in handling the situation and offered assistance to the aggrieved passenger.
Addressing close to 700 employees and the leadership team across the Air India headquarters and Air India Training Academy in Gurugram, Chandrasekaran urged them to stay on course, terming the accident the most "heartbreaking" crisis of his career.
The aviation regulator has taken some good steps lately.
Aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday said surveillance conducted at major airports revealed several defects in the aviation ecosystem, including multiple cases wherein the defects reappeared on aircraft and centre line marking faded on runway.
According to the latest data from the aviation regulator DGCA, IndiGo and Air India did not cancel any flights, while Air India Express cancelled four flights due to the system modification process.
An IndiGo flight from Delhi to Srinagar encountered severe turbulence near Pathankot on Wednesday, prompting the crew to request permission to enter Pakistani airspace to avoid the weather. However, their request was denied. The aircraft, an A321 neo operating flight 6E 2142, experienced hailstorm and turbulence, triggering various warnings and forcing the autopilot to trip. The crew managed to safely land the aircraft in Srinagar after a harrowing experience. The incident is under investigation by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which confirmed there were no injuries to passengers but noted damage to the aircraft's nose radome.
'It is most pertinent to note that in over 25 years of flying, Captain Sabharwal had not had a single incident or accident-causing fatalities or otherwise'
An Air India passenger has complained of finding a cockroach in an omelette served onboard the flight from the national capital to New York, with the airline saying the matter has been taken up with the catering service provider for further investigation.
In a written reply, Singh said the 5G C-band spectrum has the likelihood of interfering with the current radio altimeters installed on the aircraft.
Air India has terminated the services of a trainer pilot for lapses during simulator training. Ten pilots who underwent training under the trainer pilot have been removed from flying duties pending investigation. The action follows a whistleblower complaint alleging that the trainer pilot failed to properly discharge his duties. Air India conducted a detailed probe and corroborated the allegations. The airline voluntarily reported the matter to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and commended the whistleblower for coming forward.
One of the major concerns highlighted by the DGCA was about the fact that not all staff had completed mandatory fatigue management training.
The three officials include a divisional vice president of the airline, as per the DGCA order.
The DGCA had conducted an enquiry into alleged lapses in conversion training of some pilots. After the conversion training, a narrow body pilot can operate wide body aircraft.
IndiGo, which operates the largest fleet among Indian carriers, has reported the highest number of serious engine-related incidents.
A Bangkok-bound Air India flight from Mumbai was held back for over five hours on June 25, after some hay was found stuck in one of the aircraft's wings, the airline has said.
.jpg)
Such direct import was formally allowed in February 2012 but the aviation companies lack the infrastructure to do so.
The last rites of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, pilot in command of the Air India plane that crashed in Ahmedabad last week, were performed in Mumbai on Tuesday with his grief-stricken father bidding a heart-wrenching, tearful farewell to his son before the cremation.
Two of these flights were cancelled after the passengers had already boarded the aircraft, the airline said.
Aviation security watchdog BCAS has recommended installation of scanners based on computer tomography technology at airports whereby passengers will not be required to take out electronic devices from their hand baggage before going through the scanner. Currently, the scanners used at airports provide a two-dimensional view of the objects inside a hand baggage. Jaideep Prasad, Joint Director General of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security (BCAS), on Wednesday said the regulator has proposed installing scanners based on computer tomography technology at airports that will provide a three-dimensional view of the objects in hand baggage.
Civil Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju said the airlines have been responsible in keeping fares reasonable during Chennai and Srinagar floods.
The planes had come on the same runway during take-off from the airport. The DGCA has asked UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA) to share its investigation report on this incident.
The octogenarian was asked to wait due to heavy demand for wheelchair.
'A passenger on our flight AI130, operating London-Mumbai on March 10, was found smoking in the lavatory. Subsequently he behaved in an unruly and aggressive manner, despite repeated warnings,' Air India said.
The Air India plane AI-171 from Ahmedabad to London crashed immediately after take-off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Ahmedabad airport on Thursday, as per the Gujarat State Police Control Room.
The DGCA has asked airlines to inspect the fuel switch locking system in their Boeing 787 and 737 planes after a preliminary probe report into the Air India crash found that the switches were cut off before the accident.
The lawsuit has compensatory and punitive damages against the defendants for the wrongful deaths of four passengers on flight 171, US-based law firm The Lanier Law Firm said in a statement.
India's aviation safety ranking was on Wednesday upgraded to Category-I.
