The US Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) audit of India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), which ended on Friday, has resulted in the US watchdog raising certain observations pertaining to regulatory and guidance material issues within its Indian counterpart. The DGCA, said in an official statement, that it will soon commence action on the observations made by the FAA team to take the corrective steps within the stipulated timeline. This was FAA’s third audit of India’s aviation sector since 2013. Notably, after its 2013 audit, the US regulator had downgraded India’s safety ranking due to shortcomings in strengthening aviation safety mechanisms. Following the downgrade, the Centre took several corrective measures and in April 2015, the FAA restored India’s safety status. “FAA, under its International Aviation Safety Assessment program, conducted an audit of DGCA in the areas covering aircraft operations, airworthiness and personnel licensing from 16th to 20th July 2018,” the DGCA said in the statement on Sunday. The observations raised by FAA assume significance as they have come close on the heels of the UN aviation agency International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) lowering India’s score following an audit programme for the country, placing it below Pakistan, Nepal and many other nations. “As per FAA’s established process, a written report will be provided within the next 30 days and thereafter FAA team will come for a final consultation within 65 days wherein DGCA shall present the action taken on the observations,” the DGCA statement said, adding that the the FAA team was shown regulations including extensive technical guidance in the areas of operations, airworthiness, surveillance and enforcement for the use of safety inspectors of DGCA to carry out licensing, certification, and approval obligations along with certification records. The details of FAA’s observations, however, were not disclosed by India’s regulator.
