DGCA fines SpiceJet Rs 10 lakh for training pilots on faulty simulator

Civil Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday imposed Rs 10 lakh fine on no-frills airline SpiceJet for training 737 Max aircraft’s pilots on a faulty simulator.

Earlier, the DGCA had barred 90 SpiceJet pilots from flying B737 Max aircraft. The pilots will have to be retrained, the regulator had ordered.

“Training being imparted by SpiceJet could have adversely affected flight safety and was nullified,” the regulator said.

This happened within eight months of the DGCA lifting a ban on Boeing 737 MAX aircraft. While it was grounded worldwide from March 2019 to December 2020 following two crashes — in Indonesia and Ethiopia — killing 346, DGCA lifted the ban much later in August last year.

The faults were detected during a surveillance check by the regulator at the Greater Noida-based facility of CAE Simulation Training Pvt Ltd (CSTPL).

Scheduled surveillance checks and surprise audits are regularly done by the regulator to find inefficiencies in the safety system of airlines, airports, flying training organisations, simulators to find deficiencies and implement corrective measures.

During such a check, the DGCA surveillance team found that the stick shaker of the simulator was non-functional. Stick shaker is an instrument which vibrates rapidly when the aircraft is stalling, failing to lift itself.

CSTPL has only approved 737 MAX simulators in India. This was installed by Boeing as DGCA and SpiceJet both demanded a simulator to be set up in India.

This is the third instance when DGCA has imposed financial penalty on operators after the regulator got power to impose financial penalty on operators for violation of rules.

The Rajya Sabha last year cleared the Aircraft (Amendment) Bill, 2020, which proposes to increase the penalty for lapses and violations of airline norms from the existing Rs 10 lakh to Rs 1 crore and a jail term of up to two years.

The offences include carrying arms, explosives, or other dangerous goods aboard aircraft, contravening any rules notified under the Act, and constructing buildings or structures within the specified radius around an aerodrome reference point.

Last year, DGCA had levied a financial penalty of Rs 75,000 on two flight training schools for irregular maintenance of breath analyser equipment.

Yesterday in the second such case it imposed a penalty of Rs 5 lakh on IndiGo for not allowing a boy with special needs to board a flight from Ranchi.

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