DGCA suspends flight training operations at all Redbird Academy bases over safety issues

The second incident took place on October 22 and involved a Tecnam P2008JC (single-engine) aircraft VT-RBT. Representational photo

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on October 23 suspended flight training operations across all bases of Redbird Flight Training Academy over repeated safety issues.

Highlighting that two accidents involving Redbird aircraft have been reported in the past week (one of them occurred on October 22), the regulatory authority said it will undertake maintenance audits and proficiency checks at the academy. The Redbird Academy will not resume the right to offer training in flying until it gets clearance from the DGCA.

The civil aviation authority said: “These occurrences indicate gap in maintenance and operational elements. DGCA has accordingly, suspended the operations of M/s Redbird Flight Training Academy at all their bases in the country.”

“The DGCA is also undertaking special maintenance audit and proficiency checks for the trainer/examiners of M/s Redbird Flight Training Academy before permitting the resumption of their operations,” it added.

During the last week, Redbird Flight Training Academy’s aircraft have been involved in two occurrences leading to crash landing of the aircraft. The first one took place on October 19 and involved a Tecnam P2008JC (single-engine) aircraft VT-RBC.

The aircraft took off from runway 11 at Baramati with only one occupant, i.e., CFI on board. During its initial climb at around 100ft, the crew experienced an engine-related snag and loss of power and decided to discontinue the sortie and crash-landed north of a nearby field. This sortie was undertaken to assess the snag (abnormal noise and brake issue) observed in the previous sortie. However, the snag was not notified for appropriate action by the AME.

The second incident took place on October 22 and involved a Tecnam P2008JC (single-engine) aircraft VT-RBT. This aircraft had two occupants including an instructor and a trainee. They were carrying out general flying training sortie at Baramati when the aircraft experienced loss of power at an altitude of 2,500 ft. The instructor discontinued the sortie and forced landed in a field at around 2NM from the airport. Due to the impact, the aircraft turned upside down and suffered damages to the landing gear, propeller, wings and fuselage. Neither of the occupants, however, sustained any injuries.