Rs 10 Lakh Penalty Imposed On Vistara For Allowing An Untrained Pilot To Land Flight & Endangering Passengers’ Lives

Aviation safety regulator DGCA has penalised airline Vistara for letting an improperly trained pilot make a landing at Indore airport.

The flight in concern was operated on August 9, 2021 from Delhi to Indore.

What Happened

The pilot made the landing without being trained on a simulator first.

A top official at the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that the first officer landed the plane without his captain being trained at the simulator.

This is considered a serious violation since it endangers the lives of everyone onboard.

Accordingly, a Rs 10 lakh penalty has been levied on the airline.

What The Rules Say

Pilots must land the aircraft in a simulator during training before they can do it on an aircraft with passengers onboard.

DGCA rules dictate that a new employer has to conduct simulator training again before allowing a first officer to conduct supervised landing of aircraft.

Similarly, the captain is also trained at a simulator before he/she can give landing to the first officer.

Vistara’s Response

A Vistara spokesperson said that a supervised take-off and landing (STOL) was conducted on that flight  “under the supervision of an experienced captain”.

They said that the pilots were adequately trained and had valid STOL certificates issued by their previous employer.

The airline itself reported to the authorities that the same training which had to be conducted again due to regulatory requirements was missed, leading to the violation.