Payback time: 'Downgraded' DGCA probes US aircraft that landed in Mumbai sans engine part

NEW DELHI: Will India adopt a tit-for-tat policy for 'Uncle Sam' after its aviation safety rating was downgraded by the US Federal Aviation Administration due to poor oversight capability of the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA)?

A mega US carrier's schedule Newark-Mumbai flight landed in Mumbai in the early hours of Friday with the aircraft's right wing engine nose coil missing. The part, which provides a smooth aerodynamic cover for the engine and protects it from the environment, is believed to have flown off during the flight, raising question marks over the FAA's very own oversight.

The directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) is sending a team of officials to inspect the aircraft. If the inspections reveal major faults, the aircraft may be not be allowed to take off till the same are rectified. Incidentally, this is the second problem found in US-registered aircraft in India in last 10 days. Earlier, a major US cargo company's freighter aircraft was also found to have the top surface of its vertical stabilizer missing. "These things do not show FAA's own oversight on US-registered aircraft in a good light," said an official.

DGCA chief Prabhat Kumar had recently formed two teams to mount inspections on foreign aircraft. The US aircraft's missing nose coil may prove to be the first test case of how far India is willing to take its newly-espoused 'reciprocal' policy towards foreign countries in the field of aviation.

The FAA had on January 30 put India in category II list of countries with weak aviation regulatory agencies including Bangladesh, Barbados, Ghana, Nicaragua and a Caribbean island nation of 37,000 people, Sint Maarten. The downgrade means that Indian aircraft can be held up for checks and cause indefinite delays in the US.




Following the downgrade, already other countries like Singapore have started subjecting Indian aircraft to intense checks. Charter flights from India are also being held up. A charter plane of an Indian company was stranded in Paris for four days recently as aviation authorities there held it up for checks.





-TOI