The Hindu : Opinion / Editorials : ENSURING AIRWORTHINESS

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Saturday, Apr 02, 2005

Opinion

Opinion - Editorials

ENSURING AIRWORTHINESS

THE LATEST IN a continuing series of air mishaps has tragically taken the lives of two Haryana Ministers — former Haryana Chief Minister Bansi Lal's son Surender Singh, and industrialist O.P. Jindal. The privately owned helicopter, belonging to the Jindal group, crashed in broad daylight — about half-past noon — en route to New Delhi from Chandigarh, when there was nothing wrong with the weather either. According to initial reports, the helicopter developed engine trouble and crashed, although the pilot is reported to have attempted an emergency landing. The two Ministers and the pilot were killed while two others survived the crash and are under treatment. The pilot of the French-made Euro King helicopter, P.S. Chauhan, was a seasoned flier and the chopper itself was fairly new. The company must have followed the normal procedures to ensure that the helicopter was airworthy. The tragedy has once again focussed attention on the need for the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) strictly to enforce the rules and regulations governing the certification of all aircraft in the country.

While all aircraft in commercial operation go through a rigorous protocol of daily maintenance and checks and evidently come under greater scrutiny because they fly a large number of passengers every day, private aircraft and helicopters seem to come under a different regime. Of course, they are subjected to the routine checks and periodically certified by the DGCA as being airworthy. In this case, the three-year-old helicopter had clocked about 100 hours and was brought to India only last December after the mandatory technical checks. So, there was apparently nothing wrong with the helicopter when it took off from Chandigarh before noon on Thursday. Jindal's friend Ved Goyal, who survived the crash, is quoted as saying that the engine had failed and the Minister asked him to try for an emergency landing. But with the pilot losing control, the helicopter began wobbling and then crashed. A helicopter does not have the luxury of a second engine, with the help of which an aircraft can possibly manoeuvre to safety; and once the overhead rotor motor stops, there is virtually no escape.

Generally, it is politicians and industrialists who own or lease these private aircraft. Some corporates own and operate their own airplanes or helicopters, so that they can operate independently of commercial schedules. All they need to do is to file their flight plan with the airport authorities and ensure that the aircraft have been certified airworthy. The Congress leader, Madhav Rao Scindia, a Lok Sabha Speaker, the Telugu Desam's G.M.C. Balayogi, and, more recently, a film star on a political campaign, Soundarya, died because something clearly went seriously wrong with the safety systems. The question is whether any practical lessons have been learnt from these tragedies. Are the aircraft owners taking necessary steps to maintain them and follow all the guidelines prescribed by the DGCA? Many State Governments own aircraft that are usually deployed to fly Governors or Chief Ministers; fortunately, the maintenance and safety drills seem to be followed meticulously in such cases. Public sector undertakings, notably oil companies such as ONGC, have no choice but to use helicopters in their daily work. If the risks in private air travel are to be minimised, there must be institutionalised transparency. Among other things, it is vital to make public the reports of the Inspectors of Accidents who conduct inquiries into these crashes.

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