New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday has imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on Indian low-cost airline SpiceJet for training pilots of 737 MAX aircraft on a faulty simulator, as reported by news agency ANI. “The training being imparted by the airline could have adversely affected flight safety and hence was nullified,” one of the sources stated.
The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) imposes Rs 10 lakhs fine on SpiceJet for training 737 Max aircraft’s pilots on faulty simulator.
– ANI (@ANI) May 30, 2022
Last month, DGCA had disallowed 90 pilots of Spicejet airline from flying Boeing 727 Max aircraft after finding out that the said pilots were not properly trained.
“90 pilots have been restrained from flying the Boeing 737 MAX. They will have to undergo training again to the satisfaction of DGCA,” DGCA Director-General Arun Kumar told ANI news agency.
The DGCA exercised enhanced surveillance on Boeing 737 aircraft operated by Indian airlines after a China Eastern Airlines plane carrying 132 people crashed in the Guangxi province. According to media reports, it was a Boeing 737-800 aircraft.
“This restriction does not impact the operations of MAX aircraft whatsoever. SpiceJet currently operates 11 MAX aircraft and about 144 pilots are required to operate these 11 aircraft. Of the 650 trained pilots on the MAX, 560 continue to remain available,” a Spicejet spokesperson said.
The Boeing 737 Max planes were stopped from flying in India by the DGCA in March 2019, three days after the crash of a Boeing 737 Max aircraft flying from Addis Ababa in Ethiopia to Nairobi. There were 149 people and eight crew members on board. The crash was also attributed to Boeing’s anti-stall software MACS
The ban on Boeing planes was lifted in August 2021.