DGCA fines SpiceJet Rs 10 lakh for training pilots on faulty simulator

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation Monday imposed a Rs 10-lakh fine on SpiceJet for training 737 Max aircraft’s pilots on a faulty simulator. Earlier, the DGCA had barred 90 SpiceJet pilots from flying B737 Max aircraft. The pilots will have to be retrained, the regulator had ordered. “Training being imparted by SpiceJet could have adversely affected flight safety and was nullified,” the regulator said. This happened within eight months of the DGCA lifting a ban on Boeing 737 Max aircraft. While it was grounded worldwide from March 2019 to December 2020 following two crashes — in Indonesia and Ethiopia — killing 346, DGCA lifted the ban much later in August last year. The faults were detected during a surveillance check by the regulator at the Greater Noida-based facility of CAE Simulation Training Pvt Ltd (CSTPL). Scheduled surveillance checks and surprise audits are regularly done by the regulator. These are to find inefficiencies in the safety system of airlines, airports, flying training organisations and simulators and implement corrective measures. During such a check, the DGCA surveillance team found that the stick shaker of the simulator was non-functional.<br/>