Rotors on fire!

 

 

The 55-year-old Wing Cdr (Retd), Rajiv Singh (name changed), had been sitting at home ever since his retirement, reminiscing his days in the Indian Air Force and flipping the pages of his flying log book. The log book tells the story of his hey-day and the 1400 hours of flying he achieved under trying conditions, both in valley as well as in the deserts. But after his retirement from the service, Rajiv had lost all hopes of sitting in the cockpit (because he did not possess a commercial pilot's licence), till his friend told him that Pawan Hans-a public sector unit was accepting helicopter pilots without the requisite commercial pilot's licence. Without checking the fine print Rajiv jumped at the prospect of occupying the pilot's seat once gain. One cannot really blame Rajiv for jumping at the offer even though it was loaded with riders. But what about the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA)? How right was the government body, entrusted with ensuring that civil aviation in the country follows all safety rules, in granting a waiver to Pawan Hans to fly their machines with pilots who do not have the adequate credentials?

Clearly, this is preposterous. Such compromises with safety are made only in conditions of extreme emergency. DGCA's move virtually grants Pawan Hans the licence to fly its aircraft with unlicensed pilots. Rule 160 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937 clearly states: “The Central Government may, by general or special order in writing, exempt any aircraft or class of aircraft or any person or class of persons from the operation of these rules, either wholly or partially, subject to such conditions, if any, as may be specified in such order.” Taking full advantage of DGCA's licence, Pawan Hans Helicopters Ltd has gone ahead and recruited unlicensed pilots. A majority of these pilots (about 30) are retired Defence pilots. The prompt action by Pawan Hans to hire pilots like WNCO Rajiv Singh is largely driven by the market conditions. The helicopter market in the country is gradually opening up, with many private players entering the fray. By exempting only Pawan Hans to hire unlicensed pilots, DGCA has opened the floodgates to be blamed for creating a playing field, which is uneven and unfit for take-off and landing by private players. Because this particular waiver, handed to Pawan Hans, allows the PSU to have access to pilots who cost less compared to what its competitors have to pay to a pilot with a DGCA licence. The issue evidently has implications far beyond the viability of a PSU.

According to experts, “This exemption has major ramifications on the safety of operations. When you have a crew with no common standards of training, knowledge and testing, the whole purpose of CRM (crew resource management) is defeated.” Now we will have two classes of pilots, DGCA licence holders and those flying under rule 160.

Cdr (Retd) S. Kadiyan a qualified flying instructor told TSI that such a situation is bound to “lead to acrimony, ill feelings and grading of superior versus inferior. This will not be good for the safety in the skies as the flight crew is a team and is expected to work like one.” With the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) setting up common standards for operations, training and licensing of flight personnel, this en-mass exemption puts a big question mark over maintaining these standards. The pilots, who have been exempted, have either not appeared for any examination conducted by the DGCA or failed them. Therefore, such pilots are palpably ill-equipped to undertake commercial flying, because their standard of training, knowledge and other procedures related to flying cannot be assumed to be at par with the other pilots currently flying with various companies, government owned or private.

Majority of Pawan Hans operations take place for various state governments, like in the Northeast, Punjab, Bihar, etc or in the petroleum sector like ONGC. All these sectors where Pawan Hans helicopters are operating are very demanding on the flight crew. DGCA accepts and knows this fact and has issued many orders and instructions to the operators in the form of civil aviation requirements (CAR) to make hill and offshore flying safe. However, following the latest directive from the DGCA this tough and demanding task will be undertaken by pilots who have long stopped flying and who are yet to testify their credentials in the civilian arena. They will be flying the Governor, Chief Minister and other VIPs in the states of Assam, Bihar, Punjab, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Andaman and Nicobar. They will also be flying many other dignitaries who are not entitled to IAF helicopters, particularly during elections. The situation gets aggravated by the fact that neither the regulator – which is DGCA – nor the operator – Pawan Hans – have devised any plans to ensure that the unlicensed pilots undergo training to eventually qualify the stipulated tests. It is learnt through reliable sources that Pawan Hans has gone even further. The PSU has unofficially warned the freshly inducted pilots to refrain from appearing for the DGCA licence tests. The company’s fear is that once these pilots get the licence, they would leave the company and go to some private company which offer heftier pay packages.

Helicopters are often considered to be the poor cousin of jets. While aviators can brand the ‘rotors’ in accordance with the established hierarchy within their fraternity – as far as the passengers are concerned, both forms of flying machines are at par because in the event of an emergency both can prove equally dangerous to life. It is for this reason that the rules and regulations concerning the commercial flying machines have to be as stringent as possible to ensure that the safety is not compromised at any level. But by allowing the experienced pilots (primarily the retired helicopter pilots from the Indian armed forces) to fly the commercial helicopters without the helicopters pilots' commercial licence, the DGCA has obviously diluted the norms. When we tried to get in touch with officials at the DGCA and Pawan Hans, all we got was that “the bosses were in a meeting.”

On the face of it, the reason behind DGCA’s decision may appears to be simple: “Helicopter pilots, are a rare commodity in India; they are even more difficult to find now because of a boom in the oil and mining industry. It is perhaps this reason which has led to the relaxation of rules. We hope that the DGCA will soon relax the rules for private operators too. Furthermore, this could prove to be a boon for the much experienced pilots who have retired from the armed forces and missing flying opportunities.”

The CEO of one of the largest helicopter companies told TSI, while one can understand the industry's as well the retired community’s urge to do away with the rules to meet the immediate crisis of shortage, the big question remains: Are we not bending well laid down procedures merely as a crisis management measure? Concerns about this latest policy from DGCA also stems from the fact that it is eventually going to prove detrimental to the reputation of the experienced pilots from the armed forces. When old and bold pilot, without a licence, sits in the cockpit under the command of a much younger pilot with impeccable credentials, the skills of the older one is bound to be under the scanner. The fear is that the moment the shortage of pilots eases up, Pawan Hans will throw out the unlicenced lot, blaming them for being incompetent. Unfortunately, the reputation of the generation of pilots flowing out of the defence aviation stream is will become tarnished.