GoAir pilots loses visual reference of runaway before touch down; gets suspended
The Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday suspended GoAir pilots who landed the Nagpur-Bengaluru flight on November 11 even as they lost the "visual reference" 50 feet before touch down. The GoAir flight A-320 was carrying over 140 passengers when this incident took place. The aviation regulator also has suspended the Foreign Aircrew Temporary Authorization (FATA) held by the commander for a period of six months and the license held by the co-pilot for three months from the date of the incident.
The reports show that the crew lost visual reference at about 50 feet, still, they continued to land which is in violation of requirement laid down in pars 4.6.5 of CAR Section-8, Series-C, Part I.
According to the DGCA, "The crew lost visual reference at about 50 feet, however, they continued to land which is in violation of requirements laid down." The DGCA also points out that the pilots of the airliner failed to position the aircraft along the centre-line of the runway as they made their approach to land. Instead, "the crew considered (a) wrong visual reference as runway centerline and maneuvered the aircraft to the left of Runway 09" in Bengaluru. During these critical moments of the flight, the co-pilot of the A-320 NEO "did not monitor (the) flight path deviation in the cockpit instruments (and) thus failed to give (a) call out for deviation."
Meanwhile, the DGCA had issued a show-cause notice to the Commander and the Co-Pilot of the flight to submit the explanation on the lapses brought out. Both of them had accepted their mistake in writing.
(With inputs from agencies)
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