New Delhi: In the wake of the failure of international search and rescue efforts so far to locate the missing Malaysian Airlines aircraft, the DGCA has now issued guidelines to both scheduled and non-scheduled operators “for real-time tracking of aircraft”, asking them to ensure activation of either the onboard aircraft communications addressing and reporting system (ACARS) or automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) for this purpose.
Airlines have also been ordered to ensure the serviceability of this equipment before every departure.
The DGCA has also stipulated that in “areas where there is no coverage of ACARS/ADS-B, the operator (airline) should devise a procedure for effective tracking of the aircraft” and that “while flying over such areas, the flight crew should report the aircraft coordinates, speed and altitude at an interval of not exceeding 15 minutes”.
According to the DGCA, ACARS is a “digital datalink system that is increasingly being used for transmission of short messages between aircraft and ground stations via airband radio (HF and VHF) or satellite and also for flight tracking”.
The DGCA has also ordered that “flight crew should immediately report to the ground station any intermittent behaviour/unserviceability of ACARS/ADS-B during flight either using data link or voice message”.
