Airports in India lack norms compliance, prone to accidents: Experts

Mukesh Ranjan
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, August 9

Sector experts say airstrips at several airports in the country, including Patna and Jammu, have failed to comply with safety norms—a development that comes as authorities now analyse what led to the accident at Kozhikode that killed 18 people, including pilots.

Air safety expert Capt Mohan Ranganathan told the Tribune that many of the airports including Calicut (Kozhikode) Jammu and Patna are “safe only on paper” because audits done do not meet established national and international norms.

“I had warned authorities in 2011 that the runaway at Kozhikode airport is unsafe and needed to be re-evaluated, especially in wet conditions during the rainy season. Audits are mostly done on paper. Several times safety issues are flagged and the DGCA might have issued show-cause notices, but they are never followed up and no action has been taken for non-compliance,” Rangnathan said.

In the instances of non-compliance of the safety norms, authorities should take action to the extent of shutting down of airports or at least suspending operation till the norms are met, Rangnathan said, insisting that only in such situations will airports wake up and do something.

“But, if you just do these things on paper, nothing will happen,” he said.

People involved in the processes need to be made accountable, as he said, adding: “I have on several occasions pointed out to the chairman of Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council (CASAC) and other authorities that the Runway 10 of the Kozhikode airport could be risky for landing in tailwind conditions in rain”.

Lawyer and aviation safety activist Yashwanth Shenoy put the blame on aviation regulator DGCA, saying that it understood little of the sector’s needs.

“The biggest threat to the aviation sector is the DGCA itself, as it is the biggest violator of the norms. The DGCA is headed by an IAS officer, who knows nothing about aviation. Nowhere in the world are administrators appointed as civil aviation regulator,” he said.

What’s important now, he says, is to do what can be done to prevent such incidents.

 “I believe that Calicut airport is done and dusted. The question is can we prevent Calicut from happening again,” he said. And what will that take? “All we need to comply with the existing air regulation norms,” he says.

A former DGCA official said airports must follow safety standards set by ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organisation).

“There are standard procedures for the rainy season and it is there in the flight manual requiring simulator training of pilots before every rainy season,” he said.