Bilal Bhat
In the aftermath of the charter flight crash involving a helicopter carrying the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, questions have once again surfaced around safety standards, decision-making pressure and accountability in India’s private aviation sector.
Speaking to Awami Reporter, aviation expert and Managing Director of ISO 9001:2015–certified Global Charters, Manosijj Roy, cautions against speculation while outlining the structural and operational failures that typically lead to such incidents—and what responsible operators do to prevent them.
“Accident investigations must be left to authorities,” Roy says. “But from an aviation-safety perspective, crashes rarely occur because of a single dramatic error. They happen due to a chain of small, avoidable failures.”
According to Roy, one of the most common underlying causes in charter aviation incidents is external pressure on pilots and operators.
“When flights involve VIPs or political leadership, there is often unspoken pressure to fly despite marginal weather, tight schedules or operational limitations,” he explains. “A professional aviation system is designed to resist that pressure.”
Roy stresses that safe aviation culture begins with empowering pilots to say no. “If a pilot is not confident about weather, visibility, terrain or aircraft readiness, the answer must be no—regardless of who is on board.”
While official findings will determine the precise cause of the Maharashtra crash, Roy notes that weather misjudgment and terrain awareness are frequent contributors in helicopter and short-haul charter accidents.
“Helicopters often operate in challenging conditions—low altitude, unpredictable wind patterns, reduced visibility,” he says. “If weather data is incomplete or decisions are rushed, the margin for recovery disappears very quickly.”
He adds that in many cases, pilots are forced into last-minute route changes due to terrain or cloud cover, increasing workload at the most critical phase of flight.
Beyond pilots and aircraft, Roy highlights the importance of ground-based operational discipline—an area often invisible to the public.
“Safe flights are planned on the ground long before take-off,” he says. “That includes weather assessment, fuel planning, alternate landing options, crew duty limits and emergency preparedness.”
In poorly managed charter operations, Roy says, these processes may exist only on paper. “When systems are weak, pilots are left to compensate in real time. That’s when risk multiplies.”
Roy uses the moment to explain how Global Charters structures its safety ecosystem to avoid precisely these failure points.
“At Global Charters, no flight—VIP or otherwise—overrides safety protocols,” he says. “Our pilots have absolute authority to delay or cancel operations without justification beyond safety.”
The company operates with a centralised operations control desk, monitoring weather, airspace advisories, NOTAMs and terrain risks in real time. Flights are approved only after multi-layered checks, not single-point decisions.
Crew duty time limitations are strictly enforced, Roy adds. “Fatigue is a silent killer in aviation. We do not compromise on rest cycles.”
Another critical area Roy highlights is aircraft maintenance.
“Many people assume all aircraft are maintained the same way. That is not true,” he says. “Maintenance discipline varies widely depending on operator culture.”
Global Charters works only with DGCA-compliant, audited maintenance partners, and every aircraft is released for flight only after documented checks. “There is no informal clearance. Everything is logged, traceable and auditable.”
Roy links this approach directly to the company’s ISO 9001:2015 certification, which mandates process accountability and risk assessment. “Certification doesn’t prevent accidents by itself, but it forces systems to exist—and systems save lives.”
Roy emphasises that pilot skill alone is not enough. “What matters is how pilots are trained to respond when everything goes wrong.”
At Global Charters, crew members undergo recurrent training in emergency handling, decision-making under pressure and crew resource management. “The goal is not heroism,” Roy says. “The goal is calm, protocol-driven response.”
He adds that simulations often focus on scenarios pilots hope never to face—sudden weather deterioration, system warnings, or forced diversions. “Preparedness reduces panic.”
When asked what the Maharashtra incident reveals about Indian charter aviation as a whole, Roy responds carefully.
“India has excellent pilots and capable aircraft,” he says. “What varies is aviation culture.” In his view, accidents occur when commercial urgency, political pressure or image management outweigh procedural discipline. “Aviation punishes shortcuts mercilessly.”
Roy believes the solution lies not just in regulation but in operator mindset. “Safety must be non-negotiable, even when it is inconvenient.” Roy concludes by urging restraint in public commentary until investigations are complete, while calling for broader reform in charter aviation standards.
“Every accident should force the industry to introspect,” he says. “Not to assign blame prematurely, but to ask whether systems were strong enough to protect people from human error.”
For Global Charters, he says, the lesson is constant reinforcement of fundamentals. “No passenger, no schedule and no status is more important than a safe landing.” In a sector where visibility often overshadows vigilance, Roy’s message is blunt and clear: aviation safety is built quietly—through systems, discipline and the courage to say no.
