On Wednesday an Air India aircraft had flown over Mumbai, its destination, since the pilots were sleeping. The incident clearly shows us a picture of callousness of pilots and the need for an independent board that will look into the safety of these matters. As of now the Ministry of Civil Aviation controls various departments and safety is not given the importance it deserves.
The aircraft had been flying from Jaipur and was expected to land at Mumbai. But instead it overshot the city by several miles. Apparently the pilots were asleep and had been awakened by the sound SELCAL which is a special facility and sounds like a buzzer. But the general manager of the Mumbai aerodrome, M G Junghare, denied that pilots were sleeping. He said that the radio communication failure had resulted in pilots not being able to contact the control room and they had only gone 10 to 15 miles over the destined area of landing. After it was ensured that the plane was not hijacked the SELCAL was made.
Generally if any aircraft has been hijacked then the transponder indicates 7500 on the screen of the radar. In case of communication failure, the radar shows 7600. Both instances are reportable and hence should have been reported. For communication failure the screen would indicate 7600 which it did not.
Also the first contact with Mumbai is supposed to have been made before Songadh. The pilots could also have made an ATC pass to Ahemedabad to inform Mumbai of their position. A descent clearance was required after passing Songadh. If all these attempts failed the crew had the option of reporting communication failure. But the 7600 had not been selected on the transponder. No other aircrafts in vicinity were told about the failure. This clearly reflects the poor safety standard norms of the aviation industry. As per the audit of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation or the DGCA the training and qualification of the Indian DGCA is far below regular standards.
Even as the aircraft flew past its destination, if weather conditions were poor then the autopilot would have managed the mode of LNAV or Lateral Navigation along with VNAV or Vertical Navigation till Mumbai was crossed and go back to regular mode after that. But with poor weather conditions or not, it is scary to fly with pilots asleep.
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