Small and unsafe

The helicopter tragedy at Saharanpur, which claimed the lives of two ministers of the Haryana Cabinet along with that of the pilot, comes almost a calendar year after Kannada film star, Soundarya, lost her life when the private aircraft she was travelling in while on a political campaign crashed. Both incidents underline conspicuous gaps in the administration of private air operations in India today.

The dangers of the shut-eye treatment is only now being perceived, after the country has lost several public figures to possibly preventable aircrashes. If we are to secure the skies for this sector, we need to start from the very basics. Air Marshal P.S. Ahluwalia, director-general of inspection and safety for the Indian air force, is quite right when he observes that the 1934 Civil Aviation Act needs amendment to make flying standards in private operations more stringent. Civilian helicopter operations do not even figure in the Act, although the country has at present several of them in use. In fact, as this newspaper has reported, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA 8212; the main regulatory body in the country, responsible for not just registering aircraft and issuing licences to pilots, but enforcing air safety regulations 8212; does not even have a helicopter inspector on board.

This state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue. As flying becomes an increasingly popular mode of transport in an age when time is of the essence, the private aviation sector is set for take off. But this only makes it more incumbent on the authorities to ensure that it meets international standards of safety. The constraints are obvious. Today, even the larger players are forced to wage rear-guard battles to retain crucial personnel, like experienced pilots. This raises, in turn, concerns about inadequate training opportunities, with even the few flying clubs in the country in a fine mess. Then there is the question of the efficacy of the DGCA. Perhaps the time has come to set up an authority committed exclusively to safety. The issues that the Saharanpur tragedy have thrown up are many and urgent. Will the Union civil aviation ministry measure up to the task of addressing them?