New Delhi, April 1 : Noting that many lives are lost in helicopter accidents, a Parliamentary Standing Committee asked the government to give paramount importance to the safety of helicopter operations in the country. The report of the panel tabled in both Houses of Parliament on Thursday, strongly recommended that the Civil Aviation Ministry may thoroughly examine the safety provisions to ensure safe helicopter operations and further strengthen the safety features and airworthiness checks for helicopters. “The Committee may be apprised of the helicopter accident incidents in the country and furnish a comparison of the same with developed countries during the last few years,” the panel said in its report on issues related to security in aviation sector. Further, the Committee said that the Ministry may bring clear guidelines regarding the weather conditions in which helicopters can be permitted to be operated in a safe manner and work on issuing alerts/ warnings to dissuade helicopter operations in particular regions owing to inclement weather conditions. Regarding the Air India Express crash at Kozhikode Airport, The Committee emphasized upon the need to ensure that runway accidents such as the ones that happened in Mangalore (May, 2020) and Calicut (August, 2020) do not recur. “The Committee recommends that the latest advanced technological instruments should be installed at all the airports in the country so that there is smooth and safe landing during thick fog conditions, when there is near zero visibility,” it said in the report. The Panel said that the aircraft accidents in the country sometimes take too long to be finalized. A strict timeline should be prescribed for submission of final report after an accident has occurred, the Panel said adding “Since laxity in the same can cause accidents happening because of similar reasons, which could otherwise be avoided if the actual reason is known at the earliest.” The Parliamentary Committee also said that Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has been allocated a meager allocation of Rs. 1 crore, against its projected requirement of Rs. 4.40 crore in 2022-23. It recommended that the Civil Aviation Ministry may request the Ministry of Finance to provide AAIB with higher allocation so as to enable it to perform its functions in the desired manner. ASU SHK1859
