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TIMES OF INDIA

VIP travel: DGCA lays down safety rules
20 Sep 2008, 0137 hrs IST, Saurabh Sinha,TNN

NEW DELHI: Congress president Sonia Gandhi's emergency landing in Bangalore while flying from Delhi to Coimbatore in a small private plane earlier this month has sent alarm bells ringing in the aviation ministry.

Within days of that incident, the DGCA has issued a list of dos and don'ts for air travel of "VIPs, SPG-protected and other important persons” as these dignitaries' flying will now keep increasing due to approaching elections.

And more importantly, it has warned private plane operators that overlooking safety rules have led to serious accidents in the past in which VVIPs have even lost lives. "Analysis of earlier accidents/incidents associated with helicopter/small aircraft operations from improvised helipads/airstrips revealed that laid down instructions were violated time and again and safety was jeopardised. All non-scheduled/private operators are advised to strictly adhere to all safety guidelines,” the circular issued on Thursday said.

With elections round the corner, leaders will increasingly fly to small towns in choppers to address rallies. The DGCA has forbidden that improvised helipads or airstrips should be away from the place where people have assembled. "The flight crew should ensure helicopter rotors / aircraft propellers should come to a complete stop before permitting embarking/disembarking of passengers. The surface of improvised helipad (should be) level and not have loose soil which might raise a dust with rotor downwash cutting down visibility at the time of landing.”

Helicopter operators have been told that in cases where VVIPs sit on co-pilot seat, the duplicate controls there must be deactivated. Several VVIPs like Congress leader Madhavrao Scindia, Haryana industrialist O P Jindal and Lok Sabha Speaker G M C Balayogi have lost their lives in small planes/chopper crashes. Earlier this month, Sonia Gandhi and finance minister P Chidambaram were flying in a twin engine jet from Delhi to Coimbatore when one engine of the private plane developed a snag and luckily it landed safely on its sole working engine at Bangalore. From there, another private plane took them to their destination.

"The big problem is that as we go into the election mode, the demand for private and small plane charter goes up dramatically. In times like these, operators have in the past given the short shrift to safety to keep their planes flying as much as possible to earn big money,” said a senior official.