New Delhi:
Air India has issued advisory to all its pilots to make turbulence announcement when seat belt signs are put 'on' to keep informed the flight staff on board the aircraft, the Parliament was today informed.
The advisory comes in the wake of an investigation report on a recent incident in which the pilots of one of its flights forgot to alert the crew to take their seats before making touchdown, leading to injury to one crew member.
Also, all pilots have been advised to make entry of such occurrences in the sector page of Tech Log (Technical Log) as part of the recommendation/corrective action, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Mahesh Sharma said.
Technical log is the primary source for technical and operational data on each flight operated by a carrier.
An advisory has also been issued to cabin crew to follow Captain's pre-flight briefing and remain seated during turbulence and when seat belt signs are put 'on', Mr Sharma said.
A cabin crew member of an Air India's Riyadh-Mumbai flight was injured on June 28, when the Commander reportedly forgot to inform the crew that the plane was descending to land, prompting aviation regulator DGCA to set up a probe.
"Investigation of the incident was carried out... There were minor injuries caused to one crew due to slight turbulence in the approach phase of the landing," Mr Sharma said.
Divulging details of the findings, Mr Sharma said that the Commander had given pre-flight briefing before departure at Riyadh to all cabin crew to follow seat belt sign 'on' procedure.
While descending at Mumbai, seat belt signs were put 'on' due to light turbulence, he said adding "however, the captain missed out the announcement regarding turbulence when seat belt signs were put 'on'."
Cabin crew took more time to secure the cabin and could not occupy jump seat (seat meant for crew rest) in time as because of Ramazan many passengers had late meals, he said.