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DGCA unearths major scam; maintenance violations found in personal, charter planes
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has unearthed a major scam that would have certain top industrialists, corporates and chief ministers worry about the airworthiness or safety of the private or charter aircraft they fly in.
After investigations revealed several aircraft maintena-nce violations, the DGCA, last week, suspended the licences of three aircraft maintenance engineers of Indamer Aviation Pvt Ltd, an aircraft maintenance and repair overhaul (MRO) firm. It also initiated action against the director and CEO of Indamer and four other officials belonging to the said MRO and two aircraft charter firms. Indamer did not respond to calls.
“The general aviation industry has about 250 aircraft that belong to private individuals, charter firms and flying clubs, and Indamer carries out MRO work for about 70 of these. The violations, some of which were blatant, could not have been carried out for without the tacit support of the top management and even some DGCA officials,” claimed an industry insider. The MRO, which is headquartered in Juhu airport’s hangar no 1, occupies another hangar in Mumbai airport and has a nationwide presence with operations in Delhi, Ahmedabad and Chennai. Amo-ng its board of directors is Kanu Gohain, a former director general of civil aviation.
The DGCA probe revealed that signatures of engineers were forged in a number of documents, including the entries made in the flight report books, all of which bring to question the quality of work carried out by the MRO.A flight report book contains serially numbered pages on which an operator has to mandatorily document in indelible ink the engineering record of the life of the aircraft concerned, its engines, propellors, etc. It should have full particulars of all the accidents, overhauls, replacements, repairs and modifications, along with the date, location and signature of the aircraft maintenance engineer who certified the work.
Among the violations found was that under the same date, Indamer’s base maintenance manager, an aircraft maintenance engineer, had signed and certified the work carried out on two Sikorsky S76C helicopters, one belonging to the state government (VT-CMM) and the other to Eon Aviation (VT-DBH). “Though on that day, one helicopter was in Surat and the other in Raipur, the manager has signed the flight report books of both the aircraft,” said a source. Both places are located about 1,000 kms apart and are not linked by direct flights. Adrian Kempe Womens Jersey
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