India’s air safety record appears seriously jeopardised by multiple acts of omission and commission, and a lot of the rot has been exposed by the surprise surveillance carried out by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) in Delhi and Mumbai airports.

The litany of defects in planes and airports and the dereliction of duty by various aviation units should shock every passenger who places implicit trust in the regulator. The DGCA found, inter alia, aircraft maintenance engineers not attending to snags, key aspects of flying operations such as thrust reverser systems unserviceable, flap slat levers not locked, tyres worn out and training systems out of date.

These findings are bound to also alarm authorities at foreign........

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