Aviation safety should have no tolerance for laxity

Safety is a core value-offering of rapid and dependable air services, and international co-operation on aviation safety by governments and industry groups, through International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), has helped making commercial aircraft the safest way to travel.

The 193 countries who co-operate through ICAO are currently working toward their agreed global safety target of zero fatalities by 2030, in tandem with the strengthening of their regulatory capacities, while pursuing a range of programmes and targets relevant to current core areas of global aviation safety planning, oversight, and risk mitigation.

They are also working to enable the safety standardization needed to integrate today's exciting innovations in aircraft propulsion, design, autonomous control, and personal mobility, while still maintaining or improving overall network performance.

The DGCA should have no tolerance for laxity among airlines seeking to cut corners. Bird hits, cracked windshields, component failures, engine compressor surges and blade failures, flight deck indicator and system-related warnings, flight diversions, mid-air engine shutdowns, pressurization problems, and a case of severe turbulence in the monsoon - these aviation-related occurrences in Indian skies in recent months, reaching a crest over the last 30 days, with most of them affecting one airline, have raised concerns about air passenger safety. In its 'show cause notice' issued recently to SpiceJet, the carrier in focus, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has highlighted some of the reported events. In its tersely worded observations on the low-cost airline's operations - a fleet of narrow-body jets and turboprops - the aviation regulator has pointed to a 'degradation of safety margins, and touched on 'poor internal oversight' and 'inadequate maintenance actions'. Further, the DGCA has added, a financial assessment (September 2021) could point to a shortage of spares and, therefore, the 'invocation' of flying with a minimum equipment list. In its initial response, the airline management has put forward a defence of being an IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA) air carrier. And, second, given the scale of flight operations in India - according to Ministry of Civil Aviation data, there were 5,268 aircraft movements in the domestic sector, on July 10 - such incidents are not an aberration. It has even cited an average of 30 such episodes a day, which some official sources have backed, though feebly.

The Global Aviation Safety Plan (GASP) presents a strategy that supports the prioritization and continuous improvement of aviation safety. The GASP, along with the Global Air Navigation Plan (GANP, Doc 9750), provides the framework in which regional and national aviation safety plans will be developed and implemented, thus ensuring harmonization and coordination of efforts aimed at improving international civil aviation safety, capacity and efficiency.

The purpose of the GASP is to continually reduce fatalities, and the risk of fatalities, by guiding the development of a harmonized aviation safety strategy, regional aviation safety plans, and national aviation safety plans.

Significant progress towards heightening the governments' implementation of ICAO's safety, security, and sustainability global plans, international standards and guidance was achieved at the ICAO Global Implementation Support Symposium, held earlier this month.