Government on Wednesday came out with stringent guidelines for private plane and helicopter operators who are offering their aircraft to carry VIPs and political leaders across the country for electioneering. A large number of plane and helicopter owners,including public sector Pawan Hans Helicopters Limited,get orders from political parties to carry their leaders for election campaigning. In a bid to check the occurrence of any incident or accident,official sources said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation has issued a circular asking all operators to maintain safety and reliability during the campaign period. Making it clear that only those operators having non-scheduled permits would be allowed to perform this task,it issued detailed precautionary instructions regarding use of small planes and choppers for flight operations. DGCA made it mandatory for the operators to possess current airworthiness certificates for their aircraft,which should be inspected by licensed aeronautical engineers. While all defects must be rectified before flights,the planes or helicopters should be equipped with dual radio communication,navigation and instrument landing system localisation equipment,among other things. The flight plan should clearly indicate alternate airports for landing,they said,adding that standards have also been set for the pilots operating the aircraft.
