THE Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is responsible for ensuring safety of air transport and the overall development of the aviation sector by numerous regulations that enable effective monitoring of standards. One of the measures taken by the CAA to improve aviation safety was to set up a hazard mitigation system under the State Safety Programme, as required by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) from all the signatory countries.

However, the situation on the ground is far from what it should be. The execution of the hazard mitigation system at the operators’ level is just an eyewash. All the steps taken for its implementation appear cosmetic in nature.

Pressures, apparently from government functionaries and vested interests, force the CAA to dish out undue waivers that compromise air safety. Moreover, all key maintenance staffers approved by the relevant authorities are said to have not a single day worth of the requisite aviation experience. Such blatant disregard for competence and safety standards are a perfect recipe for disaster.

What happened during the approval of key staff for the Approved Maintenance Organisation (AMO) 145 gives us an idea of how civil aviation affairs are being run in the country.

The situation is so dire that we have been reduced to helplessly praying for a good review in the ongoing Universal Safety Oversight Auditing Programme being conducted by the ICAO team.

This audit is actually being conducted to upgrade the status of the CAA, as ICAO had grouped Pakistan with countries of ‘significant safety concern’. Unless basic structural changes are made to grant the CAA operational autonomy, the sector will remain vulnerable to catastrophic accidents.

Name withheld on request
Islamabad

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2021