Aviation safety watchdog DGCA on Friday asked airlines to strictly follow the rules as well as sensitize pilots and cabin crew to prevent incidents of unauthorized entry of people into the cockpit. The regulator has also warned that any non-compliance of the applicable regulation relating to unauthorized cockpit entry will be dealt with strictly and may lead to stricter enforcement action. The DGCA’s move comes in the backdrop of two recent incidents where unauthorized people were allowed inside the cockpit during scheduled flights.
In an advisory, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has asked operational heads of all scheduled airlines to “prevent any unauthorized entry into the cockpit through appropriate means”. As per DGCA safety norms, unauthorized people are not allowed to enter the cockpit, and any such entry may violate the norms. “Cases of unauthorized entry into the cockpit of aircraft have been reported to DGCA in the recent past wherein persons without authority or purpose were allowed to enter the cockpit,” the regulator said in the advisory.
According to the DGCA, “Such unauthorized presence in the cockpit is likely to distract the attention of the cockpit crew from their sensitive tasks and may lead to errors which may jeopardize the safety of aircraft operations.” It may be mentioned here that on 3rd June, the Pilot-in-Command of an Air India flight operating on Chandigarh-Leh route allowed an unauthorized person into the cockpit during departure and that person remained absent for the entire flight. Remained in the cockpit during.
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Earlier, in a similar incident on February 27, a pilot of Tata group-owned Air India allowed a female friend into the cockpit during a Delhi-Dubai flight. The DGCA imposed a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Air India for failure to effectively address a “security-sensitive issue” related to the Delhi-Dubai flight incident. It also suspended the license of the pilot who operated the flight for three months, but let off the co-pilot with a warning.
However, in the second incident (Chandigarh-Leh flight), the safety regulator suspended the pilot-in-command’s flying license for one year and the first officer’s flying license for one month. The DGCA in its advisory on Friday said that persons authorized to enter the cockpit and occupy the jump seat are specified in Aeronautical Information Circular (AIC) 17 of 2019.
“All Heads of Operations are advised to sensitize their pilots and cabin crew members to strictly follow the AIC and prevent any unauthorized entry into the cockpit through appropriate means,” the DGCA said.