According to sources, DGCA has withdrawn the Line Training Captain approval given to an Akasa Air pilot for lapses in landing a passenger aircraft in March 2024 until further orders.
Besides, the pilot’s permission to carry out Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) has been withdrawn. This is the latest incident of Akasa Air coming under regulatory scanner for lapses.
Sources said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation found the pilot to have made a hard landing or abnormal contact with the runway in an audit carried out in October last year at Akasa Air.
It has been learned that the DGCA order ended the incident after a counseling session, and the concerned pilot received no corrective training.
DGCA has found that the airline and the pilot’s replies to its show cause notices, issued in November 2024, were not satisfactory. As a result, sources said that DGCA has decided to withdraw the pilot’s Line Training Captain (LTC) approval and STOL privileges with immediate effect and until further orders.
The pilot has also been instructed to undertake at least two hours of corrective training simulator sessions covering stabilization criteria and visual cues on short finals such as flare and touchdown, missed approach, and hazards of canceling go-around, among other aspects.
DGCA last month ordered the director of operations and the director of training at Akasa Air suspended for six months due to alleged lapses in the training of its pilots. The move comes as some of its pilots have raised concerns over alleged training and safety issues in the airline, though the latter has dismissed these as baseless and untrue.
