BY T K KRISHNAMURTHY
THERE have been too many ‘near misses’ for comfort, and it is time that the Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel realises that aviation is serious business, and restores the professionalism that is slowly but firmly evaporating.

The terrible plane crash that left 158 dead is yet another reminder of how fragile a system can be, where there is no room at all for human error. It does seem that the Air India Dubai- Mangalore flight overshot the runway because of an error by the pilot who while experienced, had obviously miscalculated the distance.
Foreign Pilots
Murmurs of discontent within the civil aviation industry have become louder as a result, with fingers being pointed in what can be described as the usual blame game. Air India’s staff has for long been complaining about the authority’s decision to employ foreign pilots.
There are about 175 foreigners piloting Air India planes at this point in time, and most of them are from non-English speaking countries. The captain of the ill fated Dubai- Mangalore flight was a Serb, and the charge is that they do not know the language and are not able to communicate properly with either the co-pilot or the air control tower. This creates confusion at the best of times, and disaster at the worst of times when clear communication is absolutely essential.
The foreign pilots are employed at far higher salaries than the Air India pilots. On record they are expected to have higher flying hours before they are employed, but sources insist that these rules are often dispensed with to accommodate the largely Central Asian and East European pilots looking for jobs in other parts of the world.
Flouting of Rules
This, of course, is just one of the problems as over the years civil aviation has grown to become perhaps one of the most corrupt sectors in India.
Money flows–from aircraft deals, to appointments, to hospitality with Air India being virtually thrown into the red by greedy politicians and their bureaucrats. Every one and his uncle are upgraded for the asking, all you need is some clout in the government.
This alone costs the exchequer millions of rupees every year, but then who is keeping count. It is all for the good of the ruling elite, that of course includes the businessmen as well as the media and all those who revolve around government and constitute what we broadly refer to as the ‘establishment.’
Modernisation and upgradation of airports is yet another yet to emerge scandal where all kinds of norms are being set and rules flouted, to favour private industries that are now building and managing international airports.
The Mangalore airport was just branded ‘international’ even though now doubts have been raised about the length of the runway. The government is as always in denial mode and while many experts insist that the runway was too short by international standards, others are equally vehement that this is not so.
Lay persons, like us, can only look from one to the other, and share the grief of those who have lost their relatives on the flight and that too after it had landed. For we do not understand all this conversation about length and width and depth, but we do realise that something is not quite right, and that the Mangalore airport was not quite ready to be called international as yet.
Hasty Privatisation
The Congress has started pointing fingers at its NCP ally, and it is not premature to predict that very soon all kinds of accusations and allegations will be hurtling through the air.
The point remains that successive governments have contributed to this hasty privatisation of air travel without the basic infrastructure in place. The mushrooming of Indian airlines under every other industrialist, all well connected with the politician, did not take into account the availability of good trained pilots and crew, the capacity of existing airports and the infrastructure required to support this heavy expansion.
Air India did not have a fighting chance in this, as it is sagging under the combined weight of politicisation and corruption. It is functioning without a chief, and has not been able to deal with even one of the many problems accumulating over the years.
Time to Get Serious
Civil Aviation is not about glamour and travel. The minister in-charge must pull up his own and every one else’s socks in the sector as this crash is a reminder of how costly a mistake can be.
There is no point in rushing to the spot without the realisation that the aviation industry is running amuck, and needs to be tightened to a point where the scope for mistakes is reduced to negligible.
At the moment every Indian boards an aircraft here with fear in his or her heart, as stories of pilots drunk on duty, ageing aircrafts, poor maintenance, overworked crew, slipshod air traffic control come crowding in. There have been too many ‘ near misses’ for comfort, and it is time that the Union Minister for Civil Aviation, Mr Praful Patel realises that aviation is serious business, and restores the professionalism that is slowly but firmly evaporating.
In recent days, this is the third plane to have crashed, the other two being in Tripoli, Libya and Afghanistan. This is not a good omen for the government that has been clamouring for developed country status, showcasing its growth rates for international recognition.
Rhetoric does not impress beyond a certain stage, after that people start looking deeper for substantive data.
India that burst on to the scene with high growth figures and the “India Shining” claim, now finds that international acclaim has turned into doubt. And the world media has started questioning this, as it turns to write about the continuing poverty and the widening gap between rich and poor.
The systems, built over 60 years, are being corroded by an unaccountable political class. At the end of the day if we can close the chapter with just one aviation accident we can uncross fingers and pronounce ourselves lucky. For the system is fast becoming so rotten that a routine flight will no longer be a guarantee that we will reach our destination, safe and sound. –INAV