Is Air Asia Safe? | AwareFeed

Is Air Asia Safe?

Hello friends! It has been more than 10 days since the YouTuber "Flying Beast", that is, Gaurav Taneja raised some critical flight safety issues in Air Asia Airlines on his social media Due to which, he was even suspended from his job as a pilot But even today, there has been no response from the airline regarding these specific issues Whether these issues persist or not and what the airline is doing to avoid them- nothing at all! This is something that concerns all of us If we book a flight on Air Asia today, a question arises- Is our safety in danger? Come, let us understand these issues in detail, This is a Interview that is taken by Dhruv Rathee (YouTuber)  let us see:

#1 - Sick Leaves Ignored!

Dhruv: Gaurav,  coming straight to the point, the people that you are up against will try their best to divert the issue But I would like to keep this to the point Let us talk about the three safety issues that concern the people The first safety issue, as you had pointed out, was that of paid leave Could you please elaborate on that? This issue is precisely about sick leave and how it has been made punitive If a pilot is sick, then how is he punished for taking a sick (leave) In most jobs you work for five days- from Monday to Friday- and Saturdays and Sundays are off For pilots, they pilot the flight for 6 days and get the seventh day off These are the off days On the other hand, there are sick leaves No matter which job you have, you can take a sick leave if you are unwell and there are a specified number of sick leaves in every job per year- for example, around 10-15 The same goes for the pilots Now Gaurav says that if you take a sick leave in Air Asia, then it is counted as an off day -This is a normal month with the dates written. Assume a pilot had flights from the 4th until the 9th He flies for 6 days He should get an off on the seventh day, as per the regulations So, he got an off on the 10th And then, he can work again for 6 days Let me explain with the help of an example- Suppose, the pilot got sick on 9th, right before his off day and he got so sick that he was not in the condition to go to work If he takes a sick leave on the 9th, then he would have a flight scheduled on 10th, despite it being an off day and the company would assume that 9th was your off day and that you were resting So, counting six days from the 10th... it can make you fly again until the 15th Gaurav: A very important thing to understand here is that Are you taking a holiday when you are sick? Are you enjoying? On my off days, I do gym, I shoot my videos and edit them and I spend time with my family Basically, it is a time to let go off my fatigue But when you are running high fever, are you recovering from fatigue? You are suffering in your sickness You are not recovering from fatigue The company assumes that you are recovering When in fact, sickness adds on to your fatigue.

Gaurav: And here, I'd like to show you a study by the FAA- the Federal Aviation Administration, which is the regulatory body in the US, akin to the DGCA here It was quite a significant study The first page on it reads, "Fatigue threatens aviation safety because it increases the risk of pilot error that could lead to an accident."

Issue #2 - Two Flap-3 Landings

 Let me give you some background information regarding the second issue If you've ever seen outside the window of your aeroplane while landing. then you might have observed that the portion beneath the wings starts to tilt This part is called a flap You can control several aspects of landing by determining how open or how closed the flap is If the flaps are open all the way, then it is called a full flap position If they're not open all the way, there's a position in between- the flap 3 position Using the flaps, you can control two main aspects of landing The first is, you can control your descent angle if your speed is constant In the full flap position, the descent angle is more steep- that is, the plane lands in this manner In the half flap position, that is, the flap 3 position,  the plane lands in this manner.

You can clearly see this in the diagram. 

Gaurav - Both Flap 3 and Flap Full are recommended configurations for landing by the operator/manufacturer, which is the Airbus Both are safe. But the pilot needs to evaluate the conditions for both before he makes a landing.

Dhruv: The fact of the matter is that a Flap 3 landing saves fuel It saves fuel because you're not landing the plane at a steep angle and bringing it down gradually and all the airlines recommend it But there are some conditions that call for a full flap landing, for example, in case of a short runway or if there are mountains around the runway in a hilly region then there is not enough space for the plane to descend gradually In such cases, a steep descent is required with full flap landings. Now, Gaurav says that Air Asia forces its pilots to ensure that 98% of their landings are flap 3 landings if they want a bonus So, pressure is mounted on them subconsciously to encourage them to opt for Flap 3 landings If the pilots do not do this, they would lose out on their bonus which is a risk for the safety of the passengers in the airports where a Flap 3 landing would not be the right choice 

Gaurav: We got an e-mail from the company that we should opt for Flap 3 landings 98% of the times I had received a specific e-mail in the month of May that in the month of March, 71% of my landings were Flap 3 which is a non-compliance of SOP Everything in aviation runs via these Standard Operating Procedures If any pilot deviates from this then he becomes liable for an enquiry or questioning by the company And... So, I first got this email in March and a follow up on 31st of May,2020 where my head of operations told me in written/in black and white that this is a punitive policy and that I, as a pilot, am indulging in non compliance of SOP and this SOP is approved by the DGCA and that the company would be happy to retrain me as I was not following the SOP and in order to make this more punitive, my bonus would be deducted as well 

Dhruv: I have a question. Is this the case with only Air Asia or the other airlines as well? 

Gaurav: As far as my experience goes, there was no number given to the pilots where I worked before.

Air India Mangalore 2010 - Could be a Accident due to Flap 3

Gaurav: Now, I will tell you how this affects flight safety The report of the investigation of the Air India crash in Mangalore in 2010 recommended that this could be a contributing factor that their pilots were repeatedly counselled for hard landings Boeing states that if the impact is lesser than 2.1G while landing, then you do not require counselling But their pilots were counselled even if they had a landing impact of 1.9G So, they probably felt that hard landings could invite counselling So, in order to smoothen their landing, they were floating over the runway and they used another 500-800 feet of extra runway There were several other problems in the approach But in this specific problem, they used up another very useful portion of the runway which was about 500-800 feet So all these things keep accumulating at the back of the mind And one day, when all the things keep going wrong, everything will align and then that leads to an accident. We should be proactive in rectifying mistakes right where they are It has been our habit since forever that we wait for something to happen and then find out why that happened.

Issue #3 - Covid-19 Guidelines Ignored

Dhruv: The third issue that you raised is the most critical in my opinion because basically, if the DGCA circulars on COVID19 were ignored, then I think that the exponential rise of the COVID cases in our country today could be because the airlines did not follow the rules They cases that were coming in, those that could have been stopped right at the airport itself, if there were sound rules at the airport, maybe this situation could have been avoided Do you also feel the same way?

Gaurav: Dhruv, when these talks were ongoing in March, then there were several times when these procedures were not being followed I always intimated the company. We also have a WhatsApp group of pilots that is run by management pilots.  Now  calingl it official or unofficial is upto you So, I notified this there as well The others raised similar concerns. But it was on 23rd of March, specifically, when I saw that a lot of procedures were not being followed and carelessness was on the rise Then I documented it. We have a report called the "Voyage Report" which is read by the captain/PIC of the flight I specifically wrote there that DGCA circular number so-and-so is not being followed And I, being the captain and the PIC of the flight, I have the full responsibility Until I ensure the safety of the passengers sitting behind me, I have the full authority to sign(or not sign) the document... And whenever we sign the document stating that we accept this flight, We take full responsibility of that aircraft So when I know that there is such a glaring shortcoming, how do I accept it without doing anything about it.

Dhruv: Did you, as a pilot, have authority to delay the flight if the rules were not being followed?

Gaurav:- Yes, Dhruv. The PIC has full authority to do that. And I did delay a flight on 23rd of March and I did write down the reason that the circulars were not being followed. There were other points as well The document that I signed required me to fill in the flight arrival and departure time (as for all the flights) That document is extremely important and the management reviews it very carefully If any flight gets delayed by a minute and we write down that it was delayed, then we get a call the next day asking, "Captain, what was the reason for the delay of the flight? Can you give us any explanation or how can we improve it?" So... OTP (On Time Performance) is such an important matter for us that we keep stressing on being on time But when a captain writes it down and tells you that some rules are not being followed which is risking the lives of the people sitting behind as well as his life and it would be a risk to his family when he goes back home This extremely important document that I am writing down and handing in, I never got an email or a call regarding it yet asking the details of what was not being followed as per his complaint and how could it be improved in the future I was never contacted regarding this We always try and be on time because being on time is company's PR Which I agree, is extremely important And we contribute fully to make that happen But there's something more important than that- safety and let me explain it with an example. Say there are a 100 employees in a company 50 out of them would not be concerned with what is happening around them 40 out of them would take cognizance of the wrongs being done and would whisper amongst themselves but they will not take this up 8 out of those would tell the boss about the wrongdoings in written The boss says that necessary steps would be taken Then those 8 employees would eventually take a back seat thinking this is how it happens in India But only 1 out of those would stand up and say that he has had it enough and has brought things to the attention of the authorities enough times and that he has taken it up enough number of times But yet, nothing is done about it and he refuses to work in those conditions because that would endanger the lives of everyone and endanger the lives of his family and him I stand up and I refuse to work till all these things continue and till negligence reigns So that was my attitude. I stood up and on 23rd of March, I wrote it down and refused to work on 24th I said that a lot of negligence was taking place and that it was putting everyone's lives at risk- passengers, crew, and my family That is why I took this step And all these policies- regarding COVID, flap 3... 

Why Air Asia did this?

In the case of sickness, their man days are being saved if they relabel sick as an off then they are able to get extra work done and are able to save up on man days If you do not follow the COVID guidelines because it would incur more costs in the form of  more staffs and extra equipment- they would have to get sanitizers installed and arrange for PPEs Everything comes at a cost And as you know that there is direct fuel saving in the case of Flap 3 All these policies that I stood up against are the profit making policies of the company And the company was noticing that time and again this person was standing up and pointing fingers at policies that hamper our profit Even though it was safety that I stood up for So when there was requirement for pilots, the company kept taking in complaints without saying anything But as soon as the COVID time arrived and their operations slumped and  they were aware that even when things opened up, they would not need so many pilots They directly targeted me and then threw me out of the company 

Dhruv: I saw "boycott Air Asia" trending on Twitter The media also took up your issue The Minister of Aviation also responded to that tweet But there has been no progress regarding this. What do you think is being done by the Ministry and the Airlines in the meantime?

Gaurav: I saw that this was trending on Twitter the day I put up this video but I had no idea that this would trend and who made this trend. The people took this upon themselves to make it trend After that, DGCI also made a public tweet that they would take this up that somebody has raised a complaint against some airline But I never got a specific acknowledgement from the DGCA or any communication from the aviation Minister I have not yet received an official confirmation or communication from anywhere. I'd only like to point out that this is a fact based case and I would request the authorities to conduct a fair investigation into this I want nothing else. All I want is a fair investigation.

Air Asia should Respond to These Questions!

 The most important thing is that Air Asia should respond to these questions What answer does Air Asia have to the three safety issues that have been raised The Air Asia must say something- either accept or deny these allegations.