As investigations into the Air India Categorical aircraft crash at Karipur airport in Kozhikode started on Saturday, aviation consultants have raised questions on the standing and implementation of annual refresher, referred to as Method and Touchdown Accident Discount (ALAR), that pilots regardless of seniority must mandatorily endure earlier than the onset of monsoon yearly.
ALAR, a theoretical train, is a part of the syllabus, designed with a set of method and touchdown briefing notes with an goal to assist cut back the frequency and severity of method and touchdown incidents and accidents. ALAR refresher is deemed to be vital throughout monsoon on account of low visibility, moist runways and engine efficiency which play a vital position throughout touchdown.
Mohan Ranganathan, aviation security skilled specialising on moist runways, stated airways full the obligatory annual coaching for pilots solely on paper. “Many pilots skip the obligatory monsoon coaching, and it has simply change into an on-paper coaching for airways, particularly Air India. Therefore, the approach-and-landing accidents coaching is just not attended by varied pilots. And DGCA (Directorate Basic of Civil Aviation) has simply been turning a blind eye to the non-compliance,” stated Ranganathan, a former teacher pilot of Boeing 737.
A senior Air India pilot, who is just not authorised to speak to the media, stated, “The airline has been finishing the coaching in a haphazard method. DGCA is conscious of it. As an illustration, a pilot who final accomplished his set of trainings in September is made to endure ALAR refresher a yr later in September, and never earlier than the monsoons which defeats the aim of the ALAR coaching.”
Air India officers didn’t reply to calls or texts.
“An overhaul of the entire system is required as a substitute of a reactive change. It’s a systemic concern with bureaucrats on the helm of technical organisations resembling DGCA. After the accident, probably the most they’ll do is add a take a look at to the ALAR programme which doesn’t serve the aim,” stated a pilot from one of many main airways.
One other pilot, requesting anonymity, stated the coaching is performed to not solely fly throughout monsoons but in addition to take care of worldwide airports and their excessive climate situations like snowfall.
Nonetheless, a former DGCA official stated, “ALAR is a part of the syllabus, which is of their coaching guide, and never particular coaching. There’s a guidelines that they must tick off as soon as pilots full the refresher. So if they’ve tick-marked, we assume they’ve accomplished it.”