After Cessna crash, DGCA grounds operator

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA today turned up the heat on Bangalore-based Agni Aero Sports and Adventure Club by groundin...

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA today turned up the heat on Bangalore-based Agni Aero Sports and Adventure Club by grounding the only other aircraft in its fleet after the Cessna 180 crashed at Bangalore killing popular film actress Soundarya on Saturday.

It is learnt that the DGCA today suspended the airworthiness certificate of the Islander aircraft 8212; the only other aircraft with Agni apart from the Cessna that crashed 8212; after initial investigations revealed that the operator was ferrying an actress on a plane which had not been endorsed for commercial flying.

The DGCA has also asked its surveillance teams to keep a close watch on small aircraft operators after Saturday8217;s crash.

Further inquiries have revealed that Agni8217;s non-scheduled operator8217;s permit 8212; the licence to fly passengers on a commercial basis 8212; expired three years ago. This permit, sources said, was issued in January 1999 and expired in 2001.

Arvind Sharma, who heads Agni Aero sports and Adventure Club, has claimed that the flight was undertaken on the request of a 8216;8216;friend8217;8217; from Flytech Academy, Hyderabad, and that no remuneration was involved. Questions are, however, being raised on whether Agni had the commercial viability to undertake such 8216;8216;free8217;8217; flights.

The Indian Express spoke to Flytech Academy director Venkat Mohan. 8216;8216;The BJP office in Karimnagar had got in touch with us to organise this pick-up from Bangalore. We had no aircraft available with us. So we put them on to Agni. We don8217;t know what happened after that between the two of them.8217;8217;

Agni8217;s director of operations Santosh refutes this. According to him, the club was never in touch with the BJP. 8216;8216;We were requested by them Flytech Academy to drop these persons. Since we also take their help, we obliged. Otherwise we are not involved in election flying.8217;8217;

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While investigations are still underway in Bangalore, sources said, the preliminary reports following the post-mortem of the pilot8217;s body suggest a 8216;8216;low speed impact8217;8217; causing severe head injuries. This apparently indicates that the aircraft had probably lost much of its take-off speed after gaining some height.

Since this was a trainer aircraft, sources said, the DGCA team will also probe into whether the dual controls had been deactivated or not. A recent DGCA circular in the wake of the Khanvel crash involving some Congress leaders had specifically advised deactivation of dual controls in case there was no co-pilot.

Senior officials also point to the larger issues involved in small aircraft operations. Some of the key recommendations of the Sunil Arora Committee report on the subject, submitted in 2001, are yet to be implemented. This includes appointment of an accountable manager by each operator to ensure compliance of DGCA norms.