DGCA fines Vistara Rs 10 lakh for violating landing norms & ‘endangering lives’ of people on board

NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh after a co-pilot landed an aircraft in Indore under the supervision of a captain who had not undergone simulator training to train a first officer.
The regulator says this “serious violation (had endangered) lives of everyone on board” the Airbus A320 operating as UK 913 from Delhi to Indore on August 9, 2021.
“Vistara has been fined for violation of takeoff and landing clearance given to first officers without conducting any training. Training is conducted for first officer to land aircraft in simulator before they can do it at the aircraft with passengers onboard. In the same way, a captain is also trained at simulator before he/she can give landing to the first officer,” said a senior DGCA official.
However, the regulator found that in an instance a Vistara “aircraft was being landed by first officer without the captain or the first officer trained at the simulator. A serious violation endangering lives of the passengers onboard. A penalty of Rs 10 lakh has been levied on the airline for the said lapse. It was detected during a landing in Indore,” the official added.
In a statement, Vistara said: “A supervised take off and landing (STOL) was conducted on a flight to Indore in August 2021 under the supervision of an experienced captain. The pilots were adequately trained and in possession of valid STOL certificates issued by their previous employer for which Vistara claimed the credit. Vistara voluntarily reported to regulatory authorities that the same training which was to be conducted again in line with regulatory requirements was missed, leading to the regrettable violation. Vistara always puts the safety of passengers and staff as its top priority.”