Aviation sector hits air pocket

The sudden cancellation of Indigo and GoAir flights over faulty engines may have plunged the aviation sector into a crisis, but it’s the passengers who are facing the brunt of it.

New Delhi: It is being described as the latest crisis to hit Indian aviation and it could get worse. India’s aviation market leader IndiGo had to cancel hundreds of flights this month due to a major fault in some of its P&W-1100 engines manufactured by global manufacturer Pratt and Whitney (P&W) that were fitted in its Airbus A-320 Neo aircraft. That’s when all hell broke loose. It meant that thousands of passengers were suddenly faced with uncertainty on whether they would be able to reach their travel destinations in the days to come. IndiGo isn’t just another Indian carrier. It is the popular choice of most Indian passengers who travel by air and commands about 40 per cent of the domestic market. Added to this was the fact that another low cost carrier which was using the same engines GoAir — also had to cancel scores of flights. GoAir too commands nearly 10 per cent of the market.

But why did it have to come to this? The saga began exactly two years ago when IndiGo started inducting the A-320 Neo into its fleet. GoAir started the induction about two months after that, in May, 2016.

Documents show that in the next one and a half years, from March 2016, to September, 2017, there were 69 cases of engine failure in these engines in IndiGo alone. Aviation regulator DGCA was also aware of the problem and held meetings to discuss the issue in which P&W participated too.

But top DGCA sources told this newspaper that there were broadly two issues. The first pertained to mainly two defects that were initially dogging the engines and which were responsible for the overwhelming majority of engine failures in 2016-17. These were problems in the combustion chamber of the engines while the other pertained to a oil chip warning arising from the failure of a bearing number 3 in the engines. Shockingly, as per DGCA documents, Pratt and Whitney had apparently informed the DGCA way back in February last year that the problems in the bearing number 3 were known before the aircraft were delivered in India (to the two airlines). But it was the second issue that appeared far more serious.

“The second issue pertained to In-flight Shut Down (IFSD) of faulty PW 1100 engines that was broadly observed from only the beginning of this year. To say that the DGCA did not act in time is incorrect. The DGCA is proactive and very conservative when it comes to air-safety,” top government sources maintained. The IFSD that triggered panic in aviation circles pertained to a technical condition stemming from the “high pressure compressor aft hub modification embodied from Engine Serial Number (ESN) P770450”.

The DGCA recently stated that “preliminary findings indicate that the affected engines, which have high pressure compressor aft hub modification embodied from ESN P770450, are more susceptible to IFSD” and that “this condition, if not corrected, could lead to dual engine IFSD”.

The alarm bells were soon rung by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) that directed in February this year that aircraft having both such engines should not fly while those having at least one engine could fly but not undertake Extended range Twin-engine Operations (ETOPS) which in common parlance refers to long flights over the sea.

The DGCA immediately followed the EASA line and grounded three IndiGo aircraft that had both such engines fitted. It however, in a controversial move, followed EASA’s precedent and allowed the aircraft with at least one such engine to fly provided there were no ETOPS.

But a rude shock lay in store. Three incidents of shutdowns of an engine mid-air in a span of just 16 days shook the aviation authorities. On February 24 this year, a GoAir A-320 Neo aircraft suffered a shutdown of a PW-1100 engine after take-off from Leh while the same thing happened on an IndiGo aircraft after take-off from Mumbai on March 5. But the last straw was the serious incident on March 12 when it happened in an IndiGo A-320 Neo aircraft shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad. A panic-stricken DGCA swung into action and ordered grounding of 11 — eight IndiGo and three GoAir — Airbus 320 Neo aircraft having at least one P&W 1100 engine fitted with a serial number of 450 and beyond. This took the total number of grounded aircraft in India to 14.

But critics didn’t think enough had been done. Noted lawyer Yeshwanth Shenoy — known to take up aviation-related issues — filed  a case in the Delhi high court, demanding the grounding of the entire IndiGo fleet of 32 A-320 Neos and GoAir’s 13 A-320 Neos. The DGCA had not grounded the entire fleet since it felt the IFSD problem only stemmed from engines that had a serial number of 450 or beyond.

“Why did the DGCA not take action last year when there were so many incidents of engine failures? The DGCA is taking care of the commercial profit of these airlines,” Mr Shenoy has alleged. Predictably, these allegations gave been denied by DGCA sources as baseless. But Mr Shenoy adds, "Why did the DGCA wait for a month between February 9 and March 12 this year to ground aircraft with at least one faulty engine? Why did they wait till three incidents of IFSD occurred during this period?" These are questions that will perhaps haunt the DGCA.

Capt. S.S. Panesar, an experienced pilot who retired from the erstwhile Indian Airlines after more than 25,000 hours of flying, also feels the aviation regulator did not take adequate action. “These engines have manufacturing defects. Is there anything more precious than the lives of passengers?” he asks.

The DGCA however in a recent statement pointed to the steps taken by it in the past two years. “During operations of A320neos, following repetitive defects were reported on these aircraft by IndiGo and Go Air: i) Distress in Combustion Chamber; and ii) Oil chips warning due to wear of No. 3 bearing.

After examining the defects, following stringent mitigation measures were introduced by DGCA, which resulted in planned removal of engines to contain the failure during flight: Reduction of periodicity of boroscopic inspection on Combustion Chamber against the recommendation of Engine Manufacturer i.e. M/s Pratt & Whitney, so that distress in combustion chamber is detected well before its failure.

Grounding of aircraft from commercial operations on illumination of "oil chip lights" due to No. 3 bearing failure on aircraft display panel as against the manufacturer recommendation of 10 flight hours.”

The Government aviation regulator added, “Therefore, all the engine removals were done in a planned manner before the impending failure of engines and DGCA ensured that there is no compromise on safety of aircraft operations. The engine manufacturer has taken series of remedial actions to address the above issues related to combustion chamber and No. 3 bearing issues. Both the issues have now been addressed with modification of No. 3 bearing and incorporation of new combustion chambers.”

Following the developments earlier this month, Pratt and Whitney (P&W) recently said, “We are working closely with our customers to minimise disruption. The corrective action has been approved and we have already begun to deliver production engines with the upgraded configuration. We are working to mitigate the AOG situation by the end of the second quarter.”

According to the DGCA, worldwide, there are 113 A320/A321neos with PW 1100 engines operating worldwide by 18 operators. But all this is of little consolation to passengers whose concerns about safety while flying have sky-rocketed and flight schedules have gone completely awry.