New Delhi, April 14
Referring to media reports of technical troubles aboard Air India planes, a section of pilots under the Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) has shot off a letter to the national carrier Air India, pledging to operate only those aircraft which are “snag free”.

“…There are also a lot of media reports relating to flight safety. In view of the above, the ICPA takes a pledge to provide a safe environment for the safety and security of the flying passengers by operating aircrafts which are completely snag-free,” ICPA president Captain AS Bhinder said in a communication to the Air India executive director (Operations).

Sources say that the move follows after pilots of a Pune-bound plane found flight management and the guidance systems faulty during the pre-flight checks. Refusing to fly the plane, the pilots informed airline officials, who then asked them to change the aircraft.

After a delay of around two hours, they were given an aircraft that had just returned from a major check. However, when they took off, they discovered fault in the landing gear following which the pilots decided to return to Delhi and sought permission for priority landing from the ATC.

There are other incidents of aircraft returning to base following technical snags.

A senior Captain recounts how a flight originating from Delhi and with several VIPs on board was forced to return after cabin pressure shot up when the aircraft climbed the altitude. The aircraft had come back from a major check, he says.

In June 2010 an Air India Kochi-Bangalore-Chennai-Kochi encountered a technical snag soon after take-off from Kochi and was forced to return to the airport within 30 minutes. In March this year, AI Mumbai-Delhi flight returned to the Bhopal airport shortly after taking off for Delhi after the pilot detected a technical snag.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, pilots recount how they were “punished” for pointing out snags and “delaying the aircraft”.

A senior pilot claims that he was unceremoniously transferred after he reported “bald tyres”, a major safety hazard, during the monsoon season. “It is a catch-22 situation. If we fly a snag-ridden aircraft we are in trouble, if we refuse to fly again we are in trouble,” he says, referring to the recent Goa airport incident where pilots of the aircraft were de-rostered by the DGCA for ignoring a NOTAM to not operate during certain hours.

“If pilots landed at Goa, who is responsible? Who cleared the flight? Who issued the ADC and FIC numbers? What was the ATC of departure airfield’s departure instruction? Did Goa ATC refuse landing to aircraft during this period?” he counters. Meanwhile, the Goa incident has led the ICPA to announce that its pilots would no longer fly to Kabul due to unsafe flying conditions there.

The union has also raised doubts over safety of operations to Kathmandu and told the airline that unless those fears were allayed flights to Nepal may be affected. They say that the instrument approach procedure to Kathmandu runway has been modified but the airline is yet to have a new aerodrome operating minima (AOM).

The Air India is the only airline that flies to Kabul, operating six flights a week from Delhi. “If the DGCA is going to pull up pilots for flying in unsafe conditions, then why should we put our lives and that of passengers at risk,” questions Captain Rishab Kapoor, general secretary, IPCA.