Amid safety concerns following Air India's plane crash in Ahmedabad, BJP MP and professional pilot Rajiv Pratap Rudy asserts that Indian aviation matches world standards and is amongst the safest globally.
00:00Let me then go across to another of our newsmakers tonight.
00:03I'm joined by a Member of Parliament who himself is a professional pilot and flies airlines.
00:09Rajee Pratap Roody, BJP MP, joins me.
00:11Appreciate your joining us, Mr. Roody.
00:14Seven Air India flights cancelled today, many of them dreamliners in the aftermath of last week's tragic crash.
00:21There seems to be either panic in the skies or a desire to be safe at all costs.
00:25Would you agree there is panic in the skies at the moment given these several flights being grounded in this manner?
00:38Well, I really do not know the configuration of the six Air India flights.
00:43And if we thought there is a threat posed to the 787 dreamliners, whether all these six or ten flights which you are mentioning,
00:50were they all 787 dreamliners or whether it was also the 777s which the Air India operates?
00:56Most of them were dreamliners.
00:58And secondly, as far as I am also aware of certain flights which were rerouted or for that matter cancelled because of the Israel-Iran attack.
01:09So, unless until I know exactly for the reasons and for an airline like Air India, which of course has a large fleet,
01:18to trigger a panic button and say that aircrafts don't go in air if there is something wrong which they cannot operate.
01:29Now the operator would like it like that to go in air and if they agree to fly an aircraft which is found because nothing in an aircraft is there which is not recorded,
01:42monitored, even remotely when you are flying or when you are operating.
01:46So, having said that, a captain operating a flight which could be not fit to fly is something which I cannot say.
01:55But unless until I go through the records, it would…
01:58Sir, you are saying you are not, you know, you want clarity on exactly why these flights were grounded.
02:04What we do know, Mr. Rudy, is that the DGCA today had a long meeting with the Air India management.
02:11They want a greater focus on safety and passenger comfort and efficiency.
02:16There seems, is this not a reflection of panic somewhere over the way Air India's operations are being conducted?
02:21There is a fear of the way Air India's operations are being conducted.
02:28So, I can tell you, I can tell you, I can tell you, DGCA is not an advisory body.
02:38It will not advise that, look, you are not obeying the safety technical parameters or that you have to start rethinking.
02:45If the flight is not fit for flying, it will not fly.
02:48If the flight is fit for flying, it will fly.
02:50So, it's not a suggestive implication and not that till the DGCA told them certain flights were unfit to fly and they were flying.
02:59It can never happen in airline's business.
03:02There are certain laid out problems with which an aircraft can fly, which is listed, which is the procedures for there are that.
03:14So, there are glitches with which you can operate a flight and there are which you cannot and there are, so you cannot be an open-ended discussion that advisory was given by.
03:29Sir, it's not just about an advisory. You are a former Minister of Civil Aviation also. The DGCA today told Air India to focus, we are told, on aircraft safety and maintenance to tighten flight operations, ensure timely departures.
03:43As I come back to it, what is your response? Do you believe that Air India needs to respond to all these real concerns?
03:50So, thank you. I have taken note of all these points. There is no advisory as far as the technical aspect of operations is concerned because DGCA will not permit anything which is not technically fit to fly.
04:05These are suggestive measures, which is talking about passenger comfort, about time, about response. This has nothing to do with the technical operations of Air India.
04:15These are issues allied to what we are talking about, aircraft's capability and fitness to fly. So, let's not mix up two things.
04:25DGCA may be advising it and if there are delays and if there are hiccups and there's passenger in comfort, all these are advisories which they can monitor, but nothing to do with the safety.
04:35You know, let's turn though to safety. You are a trained pilot, you fly planes. Data shows that India is second to none when it comes to aircraft safety, but there are growing concerns over the way in which rapid expansion is taking place, over the management of certain airlines.
04:53How confident are you that our skies are safe at the moment?
04:57A hundred percent. Absolutely. Nothing will go beyond the norms of operation, aircraft safety, parameters and training. Nothing can be compromised at any level.
05:11So, an accident may have happened. It has happened. It is a tragic accident.
05:15But two, we can, because the regulations just do not flow from the DGCA. We have other organizations which also control the overall airspace across the world.
05:26And there are, the FAA also looks into it, the basics of the world flying. There are parameters to it.
05:34It cannot, a flight will not be in air if it is not meeting the standards of operations.
05:41And it is just not the aircraft which has to match the operation standard.
05:44It is the pilots and the crew and the ground maintenance and the airport and the airport facilities all have to fall on the same page for the aircraft to be in air.
05:53Are you saying, therefore, that flying is safer in India than anywhere across the world, Mr. Rudy?
05:59Is that an assurance you are giving as a former Minister of Civil Aviation?
06:07Well, yes. I will have to say that we are safe.
06:12The DGCA and other, whether it is Airport Authority of India or the Air Traffic Control or for that matter, the airports or the standards of the airports or the operators themselves,
06:21they would endeavor to give you the safest flight.
06:24And in my opinion, whether it is Indigo or Air India or any other services which is in the country,
06:29matches world standards for aviation.
06:32And Indian aviation, which is, of course, expanding and the Indian people have a lot of faith,
06:37may have been traumatized by this accident.
06:39But I can assure you that aviation is, Indian aviation, is the safest and the best in the world.
06:45And we have challenges which the government is addressing and that we should have faith in the agencies running the government,
06:55the operators and the people involved in the aviation industry overall.
06:59So we should have faith in them.
07:02Okay. You're saying we should have faith in the aviation industry.
07:04At the moment, clearly, that faith, Mr. Rudy, has been shaken.
