“Oh so many MiG planes crash; what is the reason?”, ask many people? They further say,”Is it bad technology, lack of spares, lack of training or bad maintenance?”
Rather than answering the question straight, the Safety Specialist, a prudent man counter questions, “Why do thousands of people get killed every week in road accidents in the country? Why do every year the buses keep on falling into the ravines and valleys in the mountains? Why are we not able to stop these accidents from occurring on the Mother Earth? Why do so many people get electrocuted every day?”
Most of the accidents whether in air or on the road, in fact all accidents are preventable.
Safety is an attitude. Safety is a way of life.
If we all (also the organizations and the governments,) strengthen this attitude and adopt it as our way of life, accidents in all spheres will reduce. The best way will be to imbibe ‘safety values’ in our children at our homes and our schools. Let ‘Safety’ be taught in organizations, schools and colleges as a subject, not to the specialists alone but to all. Society will be able to reap the benefits of lesser number of accidents. Economies will suffer lesser losses in money-terms. We have lost more than 450 MiGs, more than what are left. Has anyone calculated the replacement cost of these avoidable losses? It may run into billions of dollars at the present rates. Not a small amount!
Safety needs to be rewarded also. Individuals who do their bit for the cause of safety and who have the courage to say ‘no’ to wrong things need to be specially recognized by the organizations. Such people are the friends of the organizations and the watch-dogs of safety. But the fact is people who speak their mind out rarely go up the hierarchies, whether civil or military.
Keeping this foregoing in mind, please read below:-
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2012/20120108/biz.htm#2
Aviation Notes
DGCA, a ‘paper tiger’
by KR Wadhwaney
The safety of people and property is of paramount concern in the civil aviation sector. This is a vital guideline to all airlines, flying on national and international routes, by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
Sadly, this all-important directive is not being adhered to by the airlines, national and private, in this country, where safety is being compromised by operators owing to feeble financial cushion and vulnerable physical well-being.
Bharat Bhushan, Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), needs to be complimented for undertaking
a financial audit of all domestic airlines.
He has made scathing report of majority of
airlines, scheduled and low-cost, highlighting that they are afflicted with major diseases.
A study reveals that the world-renowned manufacturers have done extremely well to provide ‘unbreakable and un-penetrative’ machinery, which functions robustly in all weather conditions. But safety has been at a discount in this country because most of the men are not as competent and proficient as the situation warrants. Also, many airports in this country continue to be mere air-strips instead of being well-developed flying hubs, equipped with sophisticated gadgets and parameters.
Much as one appreciates the DGCA’s initiative for ‘safety in air’ syndrome, the DGCA itself is plagued with corruption. If an independent audit of the DGCA is conducted, many dark skeletons will be found hidden in the cupboards of its office at Safdarjung. Apart from multiple instances of fudging of ages of pilots and technicians, there are several other incidents of wrongdoings buried in the office. While disciplining airlines, it is essential that the DGCA itself is subjected to audit by an independent committee.
Much before skies were opened in 1990 and merger was forced on two national airlines, there was a lot of discipline in airline trade because regulatory bodies were watchful. Then, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) was a regulatory body and not a ‘social’ outfit, as it is now. Similarly, before the HS Khola’s tenure began in the DGCA, there were strict checks on pilots, engineers and maintenance. Now, there is a virtual ‘jungle raj’. Pilots involved in major incidents go scot free because of their ‘contacts’. There is a continued slide in the functioning of the aviation sector as the DGCA has become a ‘paper tiger’.
Some airlines have gone on record saying that the situation is not as bleak as painted by the DGCA. They say that they are passing through difficult time but they have wherewithal to emerge out of turbulent weather.
Whatever the situation is, the DGCA has to set its own house in order before it hurls stones at others.
Comments:
Ramesh Upadhyay January 8, 2012
Sir, I feel the figures of loss of money due to MiG crashes has been underestimated.
If we take replacement cost at modest Rs 50 crores a piece, 476 MiGs will cost 23800 Crores which is more than 4.5 billion dollars.
airforcechat 
Sir, I feel the figures of loss of money due to MiG crashes has been underestimated.
If we take replacement cost at modest Rs 50 crores a piece, 476 MiGs will cost 23800 Crores which is more than 4.5 billion dollars.