‘Take precautions while planning operations during monsoons’: DGCA tells airlines in second advisory
In the latest incident, a SpiceJet flight from Jaipur overshot the main runway after landing at the Mumbai airport amid heavy rains on Monday.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued another safety direction to airlines asking them to take precautions during monsoons after at least two planes overshot runways while landing in bad weather conditions.
In the latest incident, a SpiceJet flight from Jaipur overshot the main runway after landing at the Mumbai airport amid heavy rains on Monday. An Air India Express flight veered off the taxiway after landing and got stuck in soft ground at the Mangaluru airport on Sunday. Another SpiceJet aircraft overshot the runway in Surat after landing the same day.
“We are extremely concerned with recent incidents of overshoot, skidding, hard landing etc. The airlines have been advised by way of an Air Safety Circular yesterday on precautions to be taken by air operators while planning operations during monsoons,” the civil aviation watchdog said.
“We’ve also instructed Heads of Flight Safety of airlines to include in their safety briefings to pilots, an express instruction to refrain from landing with unstabilized approach while experiencing adverse weather conditions & initiate a Go-around,” it added.
“As safety cannot be compromised at any cost, all concerned are requested to strictly comply with the instructions. Non-adherence shall invite appropriate punitive action.”
This comes after the regulator asked airlines on Tuesday to carry out a risk assessment before operating in bad weather situations. DGCA asked airlines to make available sufficiently experienced crew in the cockpit and that crew rostering should factor in fatigue element associated with the operations during adverse weather conditions.
The SpiceJet aircraft that overshot the runway at Mumbai airport remained stuck on the runway and could not be cleared until Wednesday afternoon. As many as 201 flights were cancelled and 370 delayed on Tuesday after the incident.
“The pathway for pulling the aircraft is being made and the airbags are laid below the belly,” a spokesperson of Air India said.
Two tail strikes involving a Bengaluru-Ranchi GoAir flight and an Air India Express plane in Calicut were also reported on Sunday and Monday. On Tuesday, another SpiceJet plane veered off towards the right from a wet runway in Kolkata.
