The Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) on Thursday said that operating crew declared emergency in seven flights since January 1 this year.
In a written reply to Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation V K Singh said emergency was declared by the operating crew of two flights each of IndiGo, SpiceJet and Air India Express, and 1 was of Air India.
These are instances since January 1, 2022.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has a system of conducting regular surveillance, including spot checks and night surveillance to ensure that the operators/organisations continue to meet the regulatory provisions, he said.
The minister also said that DGCA initiates special audits, in case there is an increase in occurrences indicating likelihood of non-adherence to procedures.
To a query, Singh said that regular recruitment and training are conducted, including augmentation to fulfil the manpower requirement of ATCOs (Air Traffic Controllers), for smooth and effective functioning of air navigation services across airports.
"The government has approved creation of additional 340 posts of ATCOs in Airports Authority of India (AAI) in May, 2022. Further, result of recruitment against 400 vacancies of Junior Executives (ATCOs) has been declared on 28.11.2022," he added.
To a question on whether the certification scheme for drones is likely to create an ecosystem for world class drones to be manufactured in the country, Singh replied in the affirmative.
The government notified the Certification Scheme for Unmanned Aircraft System (CSUAS) on January 26 and it ensures that the type certified drone meets the minimum airworthiness required for safe operations.
"Till date, Directorate General of Civil Aviation has issued type certificates to five companies namely: IoTechWorld Avigation Pvt Ltd, CBAI Technologies Pvt Ltd, Asteria Aerospace Ltd, Dhaksha Unmanned Systems Pvt Ltd and General Aeronautics Pvt Ltd," Singh said.
Further, the minister said that quality ecosystem created by CSUAS requires competent manpower like design engineers, system engineers, embedded engineers and drone pilots in the ecosystem, thereby promoting the cause of Aatmanirbhar Bharat.