SC issues notice to DGCA on pleas seeking installation of EMAS in airports

The bench led by the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde issued a notice to the aviation regulatory body and the Ministry of civil aviation about the pleas seeking installation of Engineered Mass Arresting System (EMAS) in Calicut and Mangalore airports.

New Delhi: The Supreme court on Wednesday issued a notice to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Ministry of civil aviation on a petition seeking to install Engineered Mass Arresting System (EMAS) in the airports of Mangalore ( Karnataka), Calicut (Kerela).

The bench led by the Chief Justice of India SA Bobde, was hearing a plea filed in wake of Calicut crash which sought to examine runways and airports that require EMAS. The petitioner also sought directions for installing it in the needed airports of the country.

The Air India Express flight carrying 190 passengers including 10 infants skidded while landing at Karipur airport in Kozhikode on August 7. A total of 21 persons, including the two pilots, succumbed to the injuries sustained in the accident.

The Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) have been recovered from the crash site and an investigation is underway.

While speaking to the reporters here, Minister of Civil Aviation Hardeep Singh Puri informed that the investigator-in-charge Captain S S Chahar, who is probing Air India Express crash, will "submit the report to Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) preferably within five months from the date of order." Chahar was appointed by the Director-General of AAIB on August 13, 2020, for probing this case.

"The investigator-in-charge will determine the probable cause and contributory factors leading to this accident," the Union Minister stated in a written reply in Rajya Sabha to an unstarred question.