Parliamentary standing committee to meet on July 8 to discuss aviation safety, civil aviation secretary Sinha to brief panel

Indian Express

2 days ago

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, Tourism and Culture will meet on July 8 to discuss overall civil aviation safety in the country, with Civil Aviation Secretary Samir Kumar Sinha scheduled to brief the panel, according to sources in the know.
The meeting comes close on the heels of the deadly crash of an Air India Boeing 787-8 aircraft in Ahmedabad on June 12, and a series of helicopter accidents in Uttarakhand over the past couple of months. But the meeting is not specific to these accidents, and will be focused on an overall review of safety-related aspects of India's civil aviation ecosystem, The Indian Express has learnt.
The parliamentary panel—headed by Rajya Sabha MP and JD(U)'s Working President Sanjay Jha—could ask other aviation sector stakeholders like safety regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Airports Authority of India (AAI), airlines, and private airport operators to attend the meeting, it is learnt. A decision on who all should be invited for the meeting is likely to be taken in due course.
'The committee's meeting is not about the Air India crash or the helicopter crashes. It is not an investigating agency. Aviation safety is a subject that the committee has taken up regularly in the past as well and the focus of the forthcoming meeting will be on the overall safety scenario in the aviation sector,' said a source.
An Air India Boeing 787-8 aircraft operating flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick crashed moments after take-off. All but one of the 242 people on board the ill-fated aircraft perished in the crash. There were a number of casualties on the ground as well. This was the worst aviation disaster for an Indian airline in at least four decades, and the first fatal accident involving the Boeing 787 series of aircraft.
The investigation into the fatal crash is being led by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which is being assisted in the probe by the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) given that the aircraft was manufactured by an American company—Boeing—and was designed and manufactured in the US. A UK AAIB team is also going to help with the investigation, and so are Boeing and other major component manufacturers like GE, whose engines powered the aircraft. According to aircraft accident investigation protocol, the probe report should be finalised within a year.
Separately, a high-level multi-disciplinary committee headed by the Home Secretary Govind Mohan is also looking into the Ahmedabad air crash from a more holistic point of view to further strengthen the country's aviation safety ecosystem. The committee includes senior officials from the civil aviation ministry, home ministry, Gujarat government, the Indian Air Force, and various other departments and agencies including the Intelligence Bureau, Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, and DGCA, among others. It is expected to submit its report within three months.
The objective and scope of the government's high-level committee also includes ascertaining the root cause of the crash, including assessment of possible contributory factors like mechanical failure, human error, weather conditions, and regulatory compliance-related issues, among others. It is also tasked with assessing the emergency response of various stakeholders—both Central and State governments—including rescue operations, and the coordination between them.
The committee will formulate comprehensive SOPs and suggest the roles of various Central and State government organisations to deal with post-crash incident handling and management. It will also suggest policy changes, operational improvements, and training enhancements required to prevent such accidents in future, and handle the situation in the event of a crash.
Sukalp Sharma is a Senior Assistant Editor with The Indian Express and writes on a host of subjects and sectors, notably energy and aviation. He has over 13 years of experience in journalism with a body of work spanning areas like politics, development, equity markets, corporates, trade, and economic policy. He considers himself an above-average photographer, which goes well with his love for travel. ... Read More