DGCA transfers two senior officials over allegations of corruption

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday transferred two senior officials — the Director of Flying Training and a Senior Flight Operations Inspector in the Flight Standards Department — due to allegations of corruption, according to sources familiar with the development.

The regulator's action comes four days after suspending operations at Redbird Flight Training Academy, one of India's largest flight training centres, across all its five training bases in the country. The suspension was imposed because the academy's aircraft were involved in five accidents in the past six months.

On Friday, the regulatory authority reassigned the Director of Flying Training to the Aerosports Division. The inspector was transferred from the Flight Standards Department headquarters to the office in the northern region, sources said. Business Standard was unable to immediately reach the officials involved.

On Monday, the DGCA announced plans to audit Redbird's maintenance practices and to carry out proficiency checks on the academy's flight instructors before allowing it to recommence operations. "These incidents point to a gap in maintenance and operational aspects," the DGCA stated.

Redbird operates a fleet of about 40 aircraft and reportedly plans to expand this by another 20 planes by the end of March next year. Just last week, two of the academy's training aircraft crashed near Baramati in Pune.

On 19 October, one individual sustained minor injuries when a training aircraft faced an engine-related issue and loss of power, resulting in a crash. In another event on 22 October, two people were injured when a training aircraft was forced to make an emergency landing due to power loss.