On Thursday, the union ministry of civil aviation informed the Lok Sabha that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had not established any regulations defining the life of aircraft that might fly in the nation.
The lower house was advised that aircraft might fly in India as long as their type’s certificate was still in effect and their manufacturer was providing production or maintenance assistance
The government minister claimed that age requirements for importing aircraft into India have been established by the aviation regulator. Pressurized aircraft up to 18 years old or 65 percent of their designed economic life for their pressurising cycle can be imported for use in passenger service. According to the ministry, aircraft must be 25 years old or have completed 75% of their intended economic life in terms of pressurisation cycles before they may be employed for air cargo operations.
A total of 18 emergency landings were reported by various airlines in India during the last two years, the Civil Aviation ministry told the Lok Sabha on Thursday.Recently on July 2, a plane operating from Delhi to Jabalpur was forced to return after the crew noticed smoke in the cabin while passing at 5000 ft. No untoward incident was reported and the passengers disembarked safely after emergency landing.
Similarly, a Calicut-Dubai flight was diverted to Muscat and made an emergency landing on July 16 after a burning smell was observed in the cabin mid-air. The airline is in charge of overseeing that the aircraft is maintained in accordance with the maintenance schedule created based on manufacturer instructions and approved by DGCA.
In a response to the Lower House, the Aviation Ministry stated that the airline/operators are also in charge of making sure that the necessary skilled and experienced personnel, tools, spare parts, and maintenance information are on hand for maintaining the aircraft.
