NEW DELHI: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has cracked the whip on flying training organisation (FTOs) following a spate of accidents involving their aircraft. Aviation regulator Arun Kumar had ordered a special safety audit of the 32 functional FTOs in India, that began on March 21, 2022. So far 30 schools have been audited and a series of lapses have been discovered after which action like suspending the licence of one school and grounding chief flying instructors (CFI) has begun.
Based on the findings of this audit and probes into recent crashes, the DGCA said in a statement on Thursday it has initiated “enforcement action (like issuing) warning letter to two accountable managers; suspension orders to two CFIs for a year, two CFIs for three months, one deputy CFI for a year, two deputy CFI for three months, one AFI for three months and one student for 3 months.” The approval of one FTO has been suspended. Enforcement actions against other individuals/ FTOs are at various stages, the statement says.
