Indian business jet industry is up in chaos after Karnataka police lodged a complaint against the operator and pilots of a charter aircraft which had developed snags and then experienced turbulence while flying Congress president Rahul Gandhi from Delhi to Hubballi last Thursday.
The Business Aircraft Operators’ Association (BAOA) has pointed out that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is the only agency that can look into aircraft snags and demanded that the issue of technical trouble in Gandhi’s flight should not be politicised.
“All such incidents are mandatorily investigated by DGCA, which is the only authorized agency to determine the causes for the incident and fix responsibility. Any attempt to use such incidents for political purpose is totally uncalled for, as it would result in avoidable stress on pilots involved in such VIP flights and adversely affect the flight safety environment of general and business Aviation (GA/BA) industry, which prides itself to a very high level of professionalism. We strongly urge all political parties to facilitate us maintain the highest level of flight safety standards in all GA/BA flights,” BAOA stated on Monday.
They even claimed that as per initial reports, the aircraft developed a technical snag in mid-air and the pilots landed the aircraft safely as per standard operating procedure (SOP), after duly assessing the situation.
The Congress had filed a complaint with authorities in Karnataka that the plane’s erratic flight despite good weather should be probed as exterior interference.
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