



IndiGo crisis rekindles questions over DGCA’s revolving-door leadership
canceled more than 4,500 flights due to a pilot shortage, failing to meet new DGCA regulations capping pilots' flying hours from midnight to 6AM. A nationwide uproar prompted the aviation ministry and DGCA to launch an investigation, slash IndiGo's daily flights by 10%, and demand explanations from IndiGo chief executive officer (CEO) Pieter Elbers and the airline's chief operating officer Isidre Porqueras.While the Indigo cancellations seems to have been a case of mismanagement by the airline, the role of ministry of civil aviation and DGCA came under the lens for lapses.“They did not spot the craters in time, they did not prune the expanded schedules in time nor they did not verify if they had the pilots for the schedule, even when they saw the troubles brewing in November,” said Sanjay Lazar, aviation safety specialist and CEO of Avialaz Consulting.Six months ago, Air India's Flight 171 crashed seconds after takeoff from Ahmedabad, with at least 260 fatalities.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau is still investigating what caused the country’s worst civil aviation disaster.Bureaucrats serving as directors general, according to aviation experts, have weakened the regulator’s technical depth and continuity.“There is a clear need for a DG with technical skills and knowledge, it ended with Kanu Gohain, who retired after extensions, which followed the appointment of IAS officers. You need someone with domain knowledge and qualified experience in the regulator’s post; you cannot bring someone who doesn't know the subject,” said Captain Mohan Ranganathan, a former airline instructor pilot.The wisdom of a specialist leading DGCA has been made several times in the past including in a report commissioned on aviation
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