NEW DELHI: India's aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended two top officials of AirAsia India- Capt Manish Uppal, head of operations and Capt Mukesh Neema, head of air safety for a period of three months over safety violations. The suspension was carried out a week ago, an senior official said.
AirAsia India, a JV airline of Air Asia and Tata Group, had come under the DGCA scanner in June after one of its pilots, Captain Gaurav Taneja, posted a video alleging that the airline had been violating safety norms in order to save on fuel costs. DGCA had then sent a show-cause notice to the Air Asia's senior executive.
The airline had reportedly sacked Taneja on account of several 'violations' in June.
"Capt Manish Uppal and Mukesh Neema from @AirAsiaIndian are suspended by @DGCAIndia for safety violations and risking people lives for profits," tweeted Taneja, who also is a popular Youtuber.
Taneja had in his video alleged that the AirAsia has asked its pilots to do 98 per cent of landings in “Flap 3” mode, which allows it to save fuel. He said if a pilot does not do 98 per cent of landings in “Flap 3” mode, the airline considers it a violation of its standard operating procedure (SOP).
Flaps are part of wings of an aircraft and they are engaged to create a drag during a landing or a take-off.
Taneja gave the example of the Imphal airport, where the plane descends more steeply as compared to other airports when approaching for landing. He said when an aircraft is coming down steeply, it needs to have a drag so that it remains slow, and in these circumstances a pilot has to do a “Flap full” landing.
“In order to achieve targets, what would people do? They will do Flap 3 landings without giving consideration whether it is safe or unsafe. This directly impacts the passenger safety,” he had claimed in his YouTube video.