SpiceJet engineer killed during aircraft maintenance was working without supervision: DGCA panel

NEW DELHI: Lack of proper training, unsupervised maintenance and the airline not adhering to “basic maintenance practices” led to a young SpiceJet technician losing his life while servicing an aircraft at Kolkata airport in the early hours of July 9. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has completed its probe into the accident that claimed life of 22-year-old technician Rohit Pandey when he got stuck in the Bombardier Q400’s main landing gear door.

The DGCA had set up a panel to investigate this shocking case and has now got the report. “…the trainee (engineer) was not trained and was carrying out work on the aircraft without any supervision by a trained/ licensed engineer. Further, the landing gear door pin was not installed, which may have prevented the landing gear door to retract due pressuring of the hydraulic system… contributory factors to the fatal incident include lack of training, unsupervised maintenance by unlicensed/unauthorized personnel and non-adherence to basic maintenances practices. Action to address the shortcomings, including action against those responsible for the said incident will be taken by DGCA,” says a senior DGCA official.

The SpiceJet aircraft (VT-SUR) was supposed to operate as SG-3218 on July 9 on Kolkata-Silchar route. It had taxied out at 3.35 pm but had to return to parking bay (number 32) at 3.55 pm due to a snag in “yaw damper unit”. The rectification could not be completed by licensed aircraft maintenance engineers during the day shift and the task was carried forward for rectification by engineers during night shift.



“During this time, the AME while attending to another snag on the same aircraft (intermittent take-off warning), pressurised the aircraft hydraulic systems to check the movement of flaps and spoilers. On pressurisation of the hydraulic system, the right hand (RH) landing gear door closed resulting in the trapping of the trainee (engineer) who was carrying out layover inspection inside the right hand (RH) main wheel aft door,” says the DGCA report.

The trainee was taken out by cutting the doors but by then it was too late as the 22-year was no more. The DGCA has got the report and will now act against those responsible for the lapses which led to the life of such a young person who was just starting his career.

SpiceJet is already a regulatory probe for several lapses. The airline saw three back-to-back landing-time incidents on wet runways with its Bombardier Q400 overshooting the runway at Surat on June 30; a Jaipur-Mumbai flight overshooting the runway while landing at destination on July 1 and a Boeing 737 veered off the runway in Kolkata on July 2.

The regulator conducted unplanned surveillance of SpiceJet Gurugram head office on July 3. The next day, the DGCA had issued show cause notices to SpiceJet for “lack of safety management system in the organisation” and alleged failure “to analyse these trends and did not take any remedial action.”

The notices were issued to three senior pilots who are chief of flight safety, operations and training; and the low cost carrier’s (LCC) accountable executive. As a fallout of these notices, the chief of flight safety had resigned and the other two senior pilots heading operation and training departments were removed from their posts.