Six pilots,two air traffic controllers taken off roster

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has derostered six pilots of Air India,Kingfisher Airlines and Go Air for violating an instruction prohibiting operations on the shortened Mumbai runway when it is wet. Two air traffic controllers were also de-rostered.

A day after a Kingfisher aircraft skidded off the runway,the DGCA has also issued fresh instructions to carriers and the ATC on dos and don’ts for runway operations on Tuesdays. Pilot-1 of the aircraft should be a training captain and Pilot-2 should have minimum 300 hours of experience on aircraft of that type; no assisted takeoff and landing would be allowed on Tuesdays; airlines cannot operate flights on a wet,shortened runway and pilots must file a report after every flight.

“There have been some speculative reports which suggest that Kingfisher may have disregarded guidelines or flouted norms. We deny them,” a spokesperson said.

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Whether operations will still continue on Tuesdays under such strained conditions is still being reviewed. “We are reassessing details,” said DG Dr Naseem Zaidi.

Airport officials said the transcripts of the conversation between the Kingfisher pilots and the Air Traffic Controller states that the controller had informed the pilot of the wet conditions. ATC officials said the DGCA had posted an observer to monitor Tuesday operations and asked why he couldn’t prevent the incident.