DGCA suspends Air India’s simulator license for certain lapses

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended the licence for Air India’s Boeing simulator training center in Mumbai due to an unspecified regulatory violation.

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The regulator had earlier this week suspended Air India’s approved training organisation (ATO) licence, thus suspending the licences for both of its simulators—the Boeing simulator in Mumbai and the Airbus simulator in Hyderabad. The regulator took this action after discovering problems during a spot examination. This suspension has put an end to the airline’s pilots‘ attempts to renew their certifications and licences.

The quality handbook for the simulators had expired, and there was no quality control officer for the simulators, the regulator discovered during the spot check. The DGCA discovered that there was no SOP addressing simulator preventative maintenance checks.

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Air India submitted all required paperwork to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday, including freshly created standard operating procedures (SOP) for scheduled checks and a quality manual for simulators.

The airline’s commercial flight operations have not yet been affected by the suspension of its two simulator facilities, but the carrier wants to activate its licenses as quickly as possible.

“The airline has provided their quality manual. It will take the regulator at least a week to thoroughly examine it. According to a DGCA representative, the licence for the simulators won’t be activated until the regulator is “absolutely sure” that the airline has done all necessary steps.

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