The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday imposed a fine of Rs 10 lakh on Vistara for violating takeoff and landing clearance as it was given to first officers without conducting any training.
This incident occurred at Indore. The flight had passengers on board. This comes after DGCA recently imposed a Rs 5 lakh fine on IndiGo airline for denying boarding to a specially-abled child at Ranchi airport on May 7.
“Vistara has been fined for violation of takeoff and landing clearance given to first officers without conducting any training. A penalty of Rs 10 lakh has been levied on the airline for the said lapse. It was detected during a landing in Indore. This is a serious violation endangering lives of the passengers onboard,” the DGCA said.
According to DGCA, a first officer has to be first trained to land an aircraft in a simulator before he or she can land a plane with passengers on board. A captain is also trained at a simulator before he or she can allow the first officer to land the aircraft.
The captain as well as the first officer of the Indore flight did not train in a simulator but the first officer was still allowed to conduct the landing at the airport, officials said.
A fine of Rs 10 lakh has therefore been levied on Vistara for granting landing clearance to the first officer without conducting requisite training, they added. It is not immediately clear where the aircraft took off from and when exactly this happened.