India
No AAIB report yet on June 2022 crash, Sikorsky helicopters still grounded, Pawan Hans suffers Rs 22 crore loss so far | India News
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MUMBAI: Unlike accident investigation bodies of most countries which come out with a preliminary report within 30 days of an accident, India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) rarely releases preliminary reports of the air crashes it investigates. That has led to losses for Pawan Hans which was involved in the June 2022 Arabian sea crash that killed four ONGC staff.
Following the tragedy, the ONGC employees boycotted the offshore flights operated by Pawan Hans with Sikorsky helicopters. Nine months have passed, the AAIB has not released any report yet, the probable cause of the accident remains unknown, the ONGC employees remain wary and the impasse continues.
It has left the other four brand new Sikorsky aircraft leased by Pawan Hans on ground, leading to a loss of Rs 2.5 crore per month, adding up to over Rs 22 crores so far since June.
“The absence of a report has caused immense damage to ONGC and Pawan Hans. Due to lack of clarity, the entire fleet of brand-new Sikorsky 76 D helicopters of Pawan Hans are grounded. Though these are the latest state of art helicopters fitted with the most modern equipment, it is learnt that employees of ONGC have refused to fly on these helicopters which are otherwise contracted for their crew change flights,” said Capt Uday Gelli, western region president of Rotary Wing Society of India.
“It is but natural that ONGC is apprehensive since the cause of the accident is not known. The management is extremely sensitive about the safety of their personnel and hence have refused the usage of these modern helicopters. What a national wastage of such precious resources. AAIB must act on this issue on priority,” he added.
Pawan Hans declined to comment. A query sent to AAIB last week remained unanswered.
“In 2022, India had a total of 22 accidents/serious incidents, not a single report has been released so far. This includes the SpiceJet May turbulence accident which led to the death of a passenger later,” said Capt Amit Singh, an air safety expert.
Most countries, including India, follow the recommendations made in International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 13 document to carry out accident investigations. Under this, a preliminary report is expected to be produced by the investigator within 30 days of an accident, while a detailed final report can come within a year. Though Annex 13 doesn’t mandate that a preliminary report be made public, most countries release it to the public within that deadline of a month, so that lessons can be learnt and a repeat avoided.
A case in point is the January 15 Yeti Air crash that killed 68 people in Pokhara. Nepal’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission released to the public a 13-page preliminary report on February 15.
The report revealed that during approach to land the co-pilot had erroneously selected a wrong lever which stopped the aircraft’s two engines mid-flight. The positioning of the said lever in the ATR cockpit coupled with human factors had probably led to the crash, a valuable lesson for ATR pilots the world over.
Unlike a final report that runs into hundreds of pages that goes in depth into various contributory factors, a preliminary report typically comprises only a dozen or two dozen pages. But within its narrow body often lies the most critical lesson that pilots, stakeholders could learn from the accident.
In the past decade, fatal air accidents occurred in countries such as Indonesia, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Nepal, Malaysia and all these countries released to the public a preliminary report within a months’ time. Even the mysterious disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH-370 on March 08, 2014 had a preliminary report, released by the Malaysian ministry of transport a month later, on April 09.
Why should a preliminary report be released within 30 days of an accident?
ICAO states that an accident investigation should be carried out only to find out the probable causes and prevent a repeat. An investigation isn’t carried out to apportion blame, which is why, the sooner the cause of an accident is known, the better it is for the industry.
For instance: Within a week of the Lion Air 29 October 2018 Boeing 737 MAX crash into the Java sea that killed all 189 passengers and crew, there were questions about safety of Boeing 737 MAX, which came into service in March 2017. On November 06, 2018 Boeing released a bulletin for Boeing 737 MAX pilots, while maintaining the aircraft was safe. Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee released a 65 page preliminary report on November 15, 2018 that afforded a better perspective to the issue. On March 10, 2019 another Boeing 737 MAX operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed, killing 157 people. Two days later, the Boeing 737 MAX was grounded worldwide. Ethiopian authorities released a 33-page preliminary report the same month, which once again, helped stakeholders, especially pilots to understand the issues surrounding the controversial aircraft.
India probably sends the preliminary reports to ICAO, but it doesn’t make it public like most countries do.
In reply to a question in the Lok Sabha recently about delays in submission of accident reports, minister of civil aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia said: “the actual time required for investigation of aircraft accidents depends on the complexity of each case, however, efforts are made to complete the investigation within six months. The time frame of the investigation of accidents and serious incidents depends upon the scope of investigation and varies from investigation to investigation. The investigation in which help of foreign authorities are sought considerably takes more time for completion.”
But despite the complexity of task involved, AAIB is currently headed by an officer from the Indian Audit and Accounts Service, who has no technical expertise in aviation. She was appointed as the director general of Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) over a year ago.
India is currently the world’s third largest domestic aviation market and it has enough resources, manpower and expertise to publish a preliminary report within 30 days of an accident, the way almost every other country does.
Unlike police investigations, accident investigations under ICAO norms are not carried out to apportion blame. The sole objective is to find out the probable causes and suggest steps to prevent a repeat. How can that objective be achieved if no report is released for months after an accident? Are the lives of pilots, flight attendants and passengers not valuable enough to bring about changes to this system?
Following the tragedy, the ONGC employees boycotted the offshore flights operated by Pawan Hans with Sikorsky helicopters. Nine months have passed, the AAIB has not released any report yet, the probable cause of the accident remains unknown, the ONGC employees remain wary and the impasse continues.
It has left the other four brand new Sikorsky aircraft leased by Pawan Hans on ground, leading to a loss of Rs 2.5 crore per month, adding up to over Rs 22 crores so far since June.
“The absence of a report has caused immense damage to ONGC and Pawan Hans. Due to lack of clarity, the entire fleet of brand-new Sikorsky 76 D helicopters of Pawan Hans are grounded. Though these are the latest state of art helicopters fitted with the most modern equipment, it is learnt that employees of ONGC have refused to fly on these helicopters which are otherwise contracted for their crew change flights,” said Capt Uday Gelli, western region president of Rotary Wing Society of India.
“It is but natural that ONGC is apprehensive since the cause of the accident is not known. The management is extremely sensitive about the safety of their personnel and hence have refused the usage of these modern helicopters. What a national wastage of such precious resources. AAIB must act on this issue on priority,” he added.
Pawan Hans declined to comment. A query sent to AAIB last week remained unanswered.
“In 2022, India had a total of 22 accidents/serious incidents, not a single report has been released so far. This includes the SpiceJet May turbulence accident which led to the death of a passenger later,” said Capt Amit Singh, an air safety expert.
Most countries, including India, follow the recommendations made in International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Annex 13 document to carry out accident investigations. Under this, a preliminary report is expected to be produced by the investigator within 30 days of an accident, while a detailed final report can come within a year. Though Annex 13 doesn’t mandate that a preliminary report be made public, most countries release it to the public within that deadline of a month, so that lessons can be learnt and a repeat avoided.
A case in point is the January 15 Yeti Air crash that killed 68 people in Pokhara. Nepal’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission released to the public a 13-page preliminary report on February 15.
The report revealed that during approach to land the co-pilot had erroneously selected a wrong lever which stopped the aircraft’s two engines mid-flight. The positioning of the said lever in the ATR cockpit coupled with human factors had probably led to the crash, a valuable lesson for ATR pilots the world over.
Unlike a final report that runs into hundreds of pages that goes in depth into various contributory factors, a preliminary report typically comprises only a dozen or two dozen pages. But within its narrow body often lies the most critical lesson that pilots, stakeholders could learn from the accident.
In the past decade, fatal air accidents occurred in countries such as Indonesia, Ethiopia, Pakistan, Nepal, Malaysia and all these countries released to the public a preliminary report within a months’ time. Even the mysterious disappearance of Malaysian Airlines flight MH-370 on March 08, 2014 had a preliminary report, released by the Malaysian ministry of transport a month later, on April 09.
Why should a preliminary report be released within 30 days of an accident?
ICAO states that an accident investigation should be carried out only to find out the probable causes and prevent a repeat. An investigation isn’t carried out to apportion blame, which is why, the sooner the cause of an accident is known, the better it is for the industry.
For instance: Within a week of the Lion Air 29 October 2018 Boeing 737 MAX crash into the Java sea that killed all 189 passengers and crew, there were questions about safety of Boeing 737 MAX, which came into service in March 2017. On November 06, 2018 Boeing released a bulletin for Boeing 737 MAX pilots, while maintaining the aircraft was safe. Indonesia’s National Transportation Safety Committee released a 65 page preliminary report on November 15, 2018 that afforded a better perspective to the issue. On March 10, 2019 another Boeing 737 MAX operated by Ethiopian Airlines crashed, killing 157 people. Two days later, the Boeing 737 MAX was grounded worldwide. Ethiopian authorities released a 33-page preliminary report the same month, which once again, helped stakeholders, especially pilots to understand the issues surrounding the controversial aircraft.
India probably sends the preliminary reports to ICAO, but it doesn’t make it public like most countries do.
In reply to a question in the Lok Sabha recently about delays in submission of accident reports, minister of civil aviation, Jyotiraditya Scindia said: “the actual time required for investigation of aircraft accidents depends on the complexity of each case, however, efforts are made to complete the investigation within six months. The time frame of the investigation of accidents and serious incidents depends upon the scope of investigation and varies from investigation to investigation. The investigation in which help of foreign authorities are sought considerably takes more time for completion.”
But despite the complexity of task involved, AAIB is currently headed by an officer from the Indian Audit and Accounts Service, who has no technical expertise in aviation. She was appointed as the director general of Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) over a year ago.
India is currently the world’s third largest domestic aviation market and it has enough resources, manpower and expertise to publish a preliminary report within 30 days of an accident, the way almost every other country does.
Unlike police investigations, accident investigations under ICAO norms are not carried out to apportion blame. The sole objective is to find out the probable causes and suggest steps to prevent a repeat. How can that objective be achieved if no report is released for months after an accident? Are the lives of pilots, flight attendants and passengers not valuable enough to bring about changes to this system?
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