DCGA asks aircraft operators to establish standard operating procedures to ensure safety and efficiency

Vijay Mohan

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 1

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked all commercial and non-commercial aircraft operators to establish standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure safety and efficiency in flight procedures.

A detailed circular issued by DGCA on May 31 lists out flight and cabin crew briefings, different phases of flight such as taxiing, take off, ascent cruise, decent, landing, braking and parking, go-round procedures and the responsibility of operators among topics for which SOPs are required to be formulated.

“Strict adherence to SOPs is essential for safe operation of aircraft. Deviation from SOPs is often the starting point of contributory factors that culminate into an incident or accident. Most incidents and accidents do not occur because of a single event but are because of a series of events that are often linked to non- adherence to SOPs as the common thread,” the circular states.

Stating that SOPs have been evolved out of the need to operate aircraft within a defined framework with a desired level of safety, DGCA has also asked aircraft operators to establish a formal process of feedback from flight operations personnel to ensure standardisation, compliance and evaluation of reasons for non-compliance.

The circular on SOPs supersedes a host of piecemeal directives and advisories issued by the DGCA on various flight parameters, operations and safety from time to time.

The elements to be taken into consideration while formulating the SOPs include the nature of the operator’s environment and type of operations, the organisation’s operational philosophy and corporate culture, training and coordination, the levels of experience of the employees, policies on resource management, flight deck automation, compatibility between SOPs and operational documentation, and procedural deviation during abnormal or unforeseen situations.