Air India's flight into training turbulence

THE ALLEGATION THAT SOME INSTRUCTORS SEE TRAINING AS AN AVENUE FOR ADDITIONAL INCOME AND LITTLE ELSE HAS PERSISTED. A DGCA AUDIT FOUND THAT SOME TRAINERS WERE LOGGING IN HOURS BUT WERE NOT IMPARTING ANY TRAINING

- Anjuli Bhargava

In the last few weeks, Air India (AI) added a few more black marks to its not so stellar report card. The Tata-owned airline was in the news after a flight bound for Delhi had to return to Chicago airport after eight out of its 12 lavatories were found clogged and unusable, an embarrassing state of affairs by any yardstick and one that reeks of some kind of sabotage. AI was also in the news for having denied a wheelchair to an elderly passenger, prompting the civil aviation minister to say a show-cause notice would be issued to the carrier.

Almost no week goes by without a minister, politician, celebrity, senior media persons, or regular fliers complaining about the airline's service standards or poor handling. Many of these incidents blow up, thanks to social media.

But a more serious incident received much less attention than it deserved, compared to the clogged toilets—AI fired a simulator trainer-instructor and removed 10 pilots trained under him from flying duty after finding evidence of poor training practices and flouting of standard procedures earlier this month. Whistleblower complaints led to an internal investigation and the incident was reported suo motu to the directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA). Actions against the officials involved have ostensibly been taken by the airline. This is by far the most worrisome problem the airline faces, given ensuring passenger safety is the cornerstone of the business.