Garg Aviation cadet pilot hurt while deboarding training plane with propeller running

NEW DELHI: In a shocking lapse, a trainee pilot was grievously injured while deboarding a twin-engine trainer aircraft of Garg Aviation with the propeller running at Kanpur’s Chakeri Airport Friday (June 26) night. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has taken a very serious view of this accident, which has left the woman cadet pilot hospitalised with back injuries, and ordered a probe. While boarding and de-boarding trainer aircraft with propeller running is not allowed, aviation industry insiders say it is a common practice among some flying training organisation (FTO) in India and some other countries too. This is usually done to hasten swapping of trainees between training sorties — meaning one cadet alights the aircraft after landing and another quickly boards it to take off with the instructor. In a statement, the DGCA said: “On June 26, Garg Aviation (FTO) twin-engine Tecnam P2006T aircraft (VT-NBV) was engaged in night instructional flying at Kanpur (Chakeri) Airport. A flight instructor and a cadet were on board the aircraft. After landing, the trainee pilot deboarded the aircraft with the engine running.” “The cadet received injuries in her back due hit by the running propeller. She is admitted in a hospital in Kanpur. The involved instructor has been off-rostered from flying training duties pending investigation. Further, DGCA has directed that VT-NBV aircraft should not be utilised pending the probe. The DGCA is investigating the matter,” the statement added. Despite its booming aviation market, India is yet to create a reliably safe flying training ecosystem in the country due to which hundreds of cadets go abroad for their commercial pilot license (CPL) every year. While there are some good FTOs in India where safety standards are maintained, other problems plague mostly all. Middle class parents take loans of anywhere upto Rs 70 lakh for CPL training in India but cadets face a long wait for flying. “Even after paying lakhs, we and our wards are have to beg for timely flying — something we have paid forhand should get as a right and not charity,” said a parent who did not want to be named. Then the quality of ground training (required for clearing DGCA exams as part of CPL training) and simulator training before allowing cadets to start flying single and then twin engine training aircraft remains suspect in many schools. This leads to a high incidence of incidents, say industry insiders. “To speed up flying, the managements of some FTOs ask trainees to remain on the runway so that once a plane lands; the trainee onboard quickly disembarks and another one board it to go for the next sortie. Shockingly sometimes this process happens with the propeller/s running. Surprisingly, the fear of DGCA runs rather low in the flying schools,” said sources. The DGCA recently started ranking Indian FTOs on multiple crucial parameters like safety and time taken for competing flying. Being ranked low will have commercial repercussions in terms of students opting only for those high on the list. Hopefully this will make an impact in coming months and years.