DGCA carries record 4,378 surveillances for safety standards in 2022

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has undertaken 4378 surveillances this year, which is the highest-ever number of surveillances undertaken during a year.

A senior DGCA official informed that as part of its safety oversight responsibilities, DGCA has undertaken 4378 surveillances (3013 planned and 1365 unplanned) upto December 22, 2022, which is the highest-ever number of surveillances undertaken during a year. The surveillances ensure that various stakeholders in the civil aviation industry, viz. airlines operators, aerodromes operators, approved organisations, Flying Training Organisations etc. adhere to laid down safety standards. These surveillances include Safety Audits, Ramp Inspections, Spot Checks, Night Surveillance, etc.

ICAO Coordinated Validation Mission (ICVM) of India was conducted in November 2022. As a result, the Effective Implementation score of India has risen from previous 69.95 per cent to 85.49 per cent, thereby changing India's Safety Oversight ranking from 102 to 48 among the 193 contracting states.

This year so far, DGCA has issued Air Operator Permit for Scheduled Air transport Service to three Operator-M/s SNV Aviation Pvt Ltd (Akasa Air) on 7 July 2022, M/s GSEC Monarch and Deccan Aviation (India One Air) on 24 June 2022 and Quikjet Cargo Airlines Pvt Ltd (Quikjet) on December 12, he said.

Issued/renewed 17220 flight crew licenses through the single window digital platform of eGCA. DGCA issued 1131 number of Commercial Pilot Licenses (CPL) during the year and it was the highest in the last decade, he added.

He said that a new process for auto-filling of Pilot's e-logbook by way of integration of Aircraft System data of Scheduled Airline Operators with eGCA has been initiated in 2022. Apart from fetching real time pilots flying hours with accuracy, with minimized manual intervention, this will help in timely submission of applications by the pilots for the issuance, renewal and endorsement of licenses by removal of multi-layer data-validation steps. While Indigo has implemented the same, other scheduled airlines are expected to implement in the next two months.

Approved 24,213 Medical Assessments for Flight Crew and ATCOs including 13,659 Class 1, 4,834 Class 2 and 1,384 Class 3 Medical Assessments.

Approved new Flying Training Organisation viz. M/s Skynex Aero Pvt. Ltd. at Jalgaon Airport, Maharashtra in May 2022. Also granted four approvals for starting operations at other Operational Bases and three NOCs for setting up new FTOs in 2022.

Issued Type Certificate to HINDUSTAN 228 on May 10, 2022. HINDUSTAN 228 is the first commuter category aircraft certified by DGCA that meets international airworthiness standards. The aircraft is designed and developed by HAL, with state of art technology incorporating optimum use of composites and conventional materials, he said.