The fundamental goal of any business is to earn as much profit as possible. This has been a prolonged narrative of the economical world. However, profits should never be claimed by risking human lives. But apparently, it is incomprehensible for various Airline companies, who prefer prioritizing their profits over customers’ safety and security.
Emergency landing in Karachi
Recently, an IndiGo plane traveling from Sharjah to Hyderabad was diverted to Pakistan’s Karachi under emergency conditions, after the pilot reported a technical defect in the aircraft. However, the airline company had claimed to send another aircraft to Karachi to fly back the passengers safely.
It was the second such risky incident happening in just a week. Earlier, another airline company Spicejet came into the same limelight when its Boeing 737 Max, from Delhi to Dubai was diverted to Karachi, due to the malfunctioning caused by a fuel issue in the aircraft.
Ultimately, all these incidents highlight the loophole in the Airline Company’s management in handling their customer’s safety and security. However, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) ordered an investigation to be run into both incidents.
India is the third largest and fastest-growing aviation market in the world. Further, the market is estimated to grow immensely in the next few years, with the passenger traffic to grow at 6.2 percent per annum by 2040. The Indian aviation sector is incessantly spiking its graph of achievement. However, the aforementioned incidents clearly pave the way for a loophole, which is a setback for the entire industry.
A history of unfortunate incidents
The Indian airline industry is huge but with few dents over its safety regulations. It’s not the first marking of such incidents in the world’s largest democracy. Even after that, it does pose a threat to millions of human lives that travel every day by trusting an anonymous pilot. These mishappenings need to be curbed at the earliest before it leads to the dooming phase for the entire industry. It becomes more imperative with the recurrent disruptions in the smooth Indian airspace.
On 14 July, a Delhi-Vadodara flight was diverted to Jaipur as a precautionary measure following an engine snag. The flight was said to experience vibrations in the engines for some seconds. Though the passengers were safely landed, it might have caused some damage leading to danger to human lives.
Another incident was reported including the Air Arabia flight from Sharjah was directed for an emergency landing at the Cochin airport due to a hydraulic failure. According to Cochin International Airport Limited (CIAL), the entire airport was declared a full emergency. In addition, fortunately, all the 222 passengers with 7 crew members landed safely.
Earlier, as reported by TFI in June 2022, Yogi Adiynath’s helicopter had to make an emergency landing in Varanasi after a bird hit the helicopter on a route from Varanasi to Lucknow.
Along these same lines, a Delhi- bound SpiceJet aircraft had to make an emergency landing in Patna as its left engine caught fire following a bird hit. Although all 185 passengers on board were safe but increasing incident like this raises many aircraft operational safety concerns.
In regard to these incidents, it is clear that the Indian airspace is marking a recurrent increase in mishappenings. As per Statista, India has recorded 95 fatal civil airliner accidents since 1945. With this, it is perennial for the authorities to immediately intervene to curb the current menace and investigate the exact reasons responsible for such incidents.
Untrained pilots
Currently, India is facing a problem of untrained pilots along with its shortage. According to the stats on the DGCA website, India currently holds a total of 9,002 pilots employed across 11 domestic and international airlines. However, the required number of pilots in the next some years is 9,488.
In the year 2020, the former Minister of Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri said that every year 700 to 800 commercial pilot licenses (CPLs) are issued by the DGCA, among which only 30 percent are issued to trained pilots, who are skilled under flying training organizations (FTOs). Apart from this, the incessant rising of airplane accidents is also caused by the induction of improperly trained pilots.
With untrained pilots, millions of human lives cannot be put under constraint. There is an intrinsic need for a course of action to solve the problem of untrained pilots.
Also Read: The future of Indian Aviation will be dominated by Indigo, Tata and Rakesh Jhunjhunwala’s Akasa Air
Problem Within The Cockpit
The cockpit is the heart and brain of an airplane and any malfunction in it can lead the entire plane to numb. Despite the DGCA’s issuance of a list of guidelines to lessen the age gap between the captain and the co-pilot, the measure seems to be missing with a persistent age gap between the two.
The cockpit area of any plane often gets indulged in a clashing viewpoint between the two pilots. This might be caused due to increased age gap, because in some circumstances one pilot is too older, flying with his experience. On the other hand, another pilot is too younger, flying with his advanced skill.
It was also estimated that various young pilots are not interested in learning flying skills, and rather are more inclined towards getting drunk while on duty.
Meanwhile, the soaring fuel prices are also causing the airlines under pressure. Due to their increased spending on their fuel consumption, they are possessing salary cuts to stabilize themselves. Because of this, the pilots and other staff workers are under financial pressure. They are not getting their deserving slice of the pie. There have been recurrent salary cuts. Pilots are overburdened due to a shortage of the appropriate number of employees.
The final objective of the airline companies is to gain profits. However, that is becoming difficult with the upswing in global oil prices. In addition, the Indian government imposing a restriction on the airline companies’ anonymous charging of flight fares, has further penetrated the companies into a dilapidated state.
Due to these reasons, the airline companies are neither considering safety norms nor abiding by the rules set for them. Their only motive is to earn a profit, irrespective of the means they have chosen.
Support TFI:
Support us to strengthen the ‘Right’ ideology of cultural nationalism by purchasing the best quality garments from TFI-STORE.COM
