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The Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Shri Ajay Prasad inaugurated the three-day meeting of the Cooperative Development of Operational Safety and Continuing Airworthiness (COSCAP) for South Asia (SA), here today. The Director General Civil Aviation, India, the current Chairman of COSCAP is hosting the 13th Steering Committee meeting in India from 29th November 2004 to 1st December 2004. The Meeting is being attended by the Directors Generals of Civil Aviation of the participating SAARC States, representatives of ICAO Headquarters, Montreal and its Regional Office for Asia-Pacific Region - Bangkok, Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of USA, Joint Aviation Authorities (JAA) of Europe, European Union (EU), donor agencies like aircraft manufacturers Boeing and Airbus and other International aviation agencies like the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).
Speaking on the occasion, the Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Shri Ajay Prasad commented that the main theme of discussion of the meet would be aviation safety. He said that commercial civil aviation is perhaps the safest form of transport. The present aviation safety level though commendable will not be acceptable in future in view of increased number of accidents with the growth of air transport activities. The safety record has thus to be improved by anticipating events and implementing all possible preventive measures. Constant training, skill upgradation and competent handling of evolving technologies are the corner stones in achieving the highest safety standards. The Secretary hoped that ICAO and COSCAP would provide the necessary assistance and expertise for achieving this objective. Shri Prasad also added that India recognized the need to fully implement the ICAO standards in safety, a number of steps have been taken not only to meet the ICAO requirements, but also to enhance safety in the Indian air space to meet the challenges of growing traffic needs. India has implemented RVSM in its airspace as per the ICAO programme to accommodate more traffic. Category – III A system was installed at Delhi airport which is being upgraded to category III-B level. Category – II system is being installed at a number of other airports in the country. Today almost the entire Indian airspace has been covered under radar surveillance. CMS ATM programme is being implemented in accordance with ICAO plan. The Safety Oversight Audit conducted by ICAO in 1999 was highly successful and during the subsequent review of the audit report no recommendation of the audit team is pending.
The meeting was also attended by Shri Satendra Singh, Director General Civil Aviation, Capt. Haile Belai, Chief Safety Oversight Audit Unit, ICAO and Shri Lalit Bikram Shah, Regional Director ICAO Asia and Pacific Office, Bangkok.
The Co-operative Development of Operational Safety and Continuing Airworthiness (COSCAP) for South Asia (SA) is a co-operative agreement between the seven SAARC countries, namely Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, guided by a Steering Committee consisting of the Directors Generals of the member States and executed by the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) by means of a trust fund. The COSCAP- SA programme for the SAARC States was established in 1997 and completed its first five year tenure in March 2002. The tenure of the programme was extended for a further period of 5 years upto 2007.
COSCAP aims at enhancing the safety and efficiency of air transport operations in the region through the establishment of a Regional Aviation Safety Certification and Inspection Organisation. The purpose of the organization is to overcome deficiencies in the flight safety oversight capability of the participant States by providing a regional core of highly qualified flight operations and airworthiness inspectors to perform the full range of flight safety inspection and certification functions on behalf of the participant SAARC States. The project also enhances the individual oversight capability of the each participant State by providing on-site training of national inspectors and regulators and representatives from airline operators and aviation industry and in conducting systematic assessments of States’ flight safety organizations.
The total expenditure for the project is US Dollars 4,987,754, which is shared by the member States. The programme also receives funding in kind from external donors which includes financial contribution from Canada, USA, JAA and from aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing and training assistance from various agencies.
All the participating states have been greatly benefited by the project outputs. It has been established that but for this co-operative project the cost of training of personnel both from the regulatory authority and those from Industry would have been enormous amount. About 4000 personnel from Regulatory authority and the Industry from the participating member SAARC States have attended various training courses organised by COSCAP-SA.
Training under the COSCAP has benefited personnel both from the DGCA and the industry in India in enhancing safety awareness and betterment of Airworthiness standards.
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