Two aircraft incidents a day in Indian airspace as traffic becomes denser

Information obtained by Business Standard through RTI shows there were over 3,000 incidents involving Boeing and Airbus planes from January 2014 to April 2019

There were 3,206 incidents between January 2014 and April 2019, involving Boeing and Airbus planes operated by scheduled airlines in India, according to information obtained by Business Standard under the Right to Information Act (RTI). These incidents pertain only to Boeing and Airbus planes in India and do not include those of other manufacturers such as ATR and Bombardier. In effect, there were almost two incidents involving these aircraft every day during this period.

However India’s aviation regulator did not share the list of incidents with Business Standard stating that this information was “safety data which is protected from disclosure as per provisions of Civil Aviation Rules (CAR).” Under India’s aviation rules an aircraft ‘incident’ is defined as an occurrence on the ground or in the air which causes damage to the aircraft or to the person involved in operating or maintaining the aircraft. It also includes six other parameters – a forced landing, a plane landing in an un-airworthy condition, an aircraft being compelled to land without completing its scheduled flight, an aircraft landing without being in a position to take off again, the position of an aircraft becoming unknown for any period of time and the safety of the aircraft or its occupants being jeopardised in any manner.

A number of incidents were reported on Airbus A320 Neo aircraft fitted with Pratt and Whitney’s PW1100 engines. The DGCA pointed out that it had taken four specific measures regarding A320 NEOs operated by Indigo and GoAir. Firstly, it had ordered weekly inspections of turbine blades of these planes. Secondly, the pilots and cabin crew needed to be more aware of odour or smoke emanating and log every such instance for further investigation. Whenever burning odour or smoke was detected, the engine needed to be inspected in detail and used only after rectifying the defect. Thirdly, these planes needed to have more frequent boroscopic inspection of their dry face seal (These carbon made seals prevent leakage of gas from the plane’s engines). Fourthly, none of these planes were to be flown to Port Blair.

While India’s civil aviation regulator did not disclose the list of incidents, the DGCA also hasn’t yet revealed the list of “accidents.”

An incident is defined differently from an accident. As per Civil Aviation Rules (CAR), an accident is an “occurrence associated with the operation of an aircraft which takes place between the time any person boards the aircraft with the intention of flight until such time as all such persons have disembarked.” Unlike an incident, an accident occurs when a person is fatally or seriously injured during the flight, or there is major structural damage or failure of aircraft, or a plane crashes without its wreckage ever being located even after search operations have been officially terminated. 

DGCA has publicly revealed information about those accidents which the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has completely probed. Since 2008, investigations have been completed in 66 accident cases across the country involving all planes of both scheduled and non-scheduled operators. Only one accident that happened in 2018 involving a flight training institute in Ayodhya has been investigated. Five accidents that happened in 2017 including that of a Jet Airways flight that veered off the runway during take-off injuring 15 passengers have been probed till date. Four accidents that happened in 2016 including two involving Jet Airways planes Indore and Mumbai have been investigated. Probe reports have been finalised in seven accidents that happened in 2015 including two Spicejet planes at Jabalpur and Hubli.  
 

According to International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), there was accident for every million departures in India in 2018 which was lower than the global accident rate of 1.75 accidents per million flight departures. According to International Air Transport Association (IATA), 2018 was the deadliest year for air travelers since 2014 with 523 people losing their lives in accidents.