DGCA suspends approval for flying training organisation Alchemist Aviation

Aviation watchdog DGCA has suspended the approval for Alchemist Aviation following an audit done in the wake of a fatal trainee aircraft accident that found the flying training organization being non-compliant with regulations. The move comes less than two weeks after the organization's trainee aircraft was involved in the fatal accident that killed the two people on board -- instructor and trainee pilot.

Following the accident on August 20, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) conducted a special safety audit of Alchemist Aviation on August 23 and 24. "During the audit, several serious deficiencies and non-compliances of regulatory provisions were found," DGCA said in a release on Thursday. Alchemist Aviation is into local flying at Jamshedpur Sonari airport in Jharkhand.

The regulator said it has suspended the approval granted to Alchemist Aviation to operate as a Flying Training Organisation. "The FTO will have to mandatorily undergo a de novo rectification process to ensure obligatory compliances," it added.