Focus on stabilised approach: DGCA tells airlines for monsoon operations

According to a senior government official, top level meetings were held on Tuesday including by civil aviation secretary and the Director General of Civil Aviation to discuss the situation and a decision was taken to issue the safety circular.

“Aircraft operations during monsoon season poses challenges, which of late have resulted in a number of occurrences … keeping the above in view, operators are advised to adhere to the following precautions while planning operations during the monsoon conditions,” the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) noted, pointing out eight measures for airlines.

The aviation safety watchdog said that emphasis should be laid on conducting a stabilised approach and that crew should be encouraged to go around when approach becomes unstabilised or in case of any condition which reduces visual references to enable a safe landing. It also said that the airline should factor in the crew’s fatigue element associated with the operations while rostering during the adverse weather conditions, adding that the crew should be well aware of the aircraft limitations and of take-off/landing performance calculations when operating in adverse weather.

Prior to the two SpiceJet incidents on Monday and Tuesday, another aircraft operated by the low-cost carrier veered off the runway at Surat on Sunday. This was after an Air India Express plane veered off the taxiway after landing and got stuck in soft ground at the Mangaluru airport earlier that day.

While the probable causes and the contributory factors of the four recent incidents have not been found out yet, Air India Express, in a statement had said tailwinds and wet runway at Mangalore along with inadequate braking action was reported following the excursion incident.

In its safety circular, the DGCA also said that airlines should ensure that experienced crew are sufficiently available to operate when weather conditions are poor and also that the crew are made aware of the lighting system available at the airport.