Airplane makers, airlines and even DGCA accept such incidents can only be accidents. But airlines will have to pay Rs 50,000 for them.
New Delhi: Giving in to pressure from the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the Directorate General of Civil Aviation late last month ordered airlines that they would have to pay a fine of Rs 50,000 if they dump human waste mid-flight.
This was a follow-up of a 2016 NGT order to penalise airlines releasing such waste in the air.
But here’s the catch: Airlines, aircraft manufacturers, aviation experts and the DGCA itself all agree that it is practically not possible to drop human waste from aircraft — whether while flying, landing or taking off.
In January this year, an incident like this had come to light when a heavy ball of ice, suspected to be frozen waste from an aircraft, landed in the village of Fazilpur Badli in Haryana.
DGCA chief B.S. Bhullar refused to comment on the issue since the matter is sub-judice, but all other experts said it could only have been an accidental leak — it just isn’t possible to release waste manually.
But hearings at the NGT are set to go on — the next one is set for Monday, 17 September.
Why NGT gave the order
The original application was filed at the NGT in 2016, with the petitioner, Lt. General Satwant Singh Dahiya (retd), stating that human excreta was being dumped on his south Delhi house from aircraft landing at the Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi.
To investigate the matter, the DGCA constituted a three-member expert committee on 5 December 2016. However, before it could complete its investigation, the NGT passed an order on 20 December 2016.
The NGT directed the DGCA to issue a circular to all ground handling services and airlines to ensure that they do not release waste from human waste tanks while landing or anywhere near the terminals of the IGI Airport in Delhi.
The bench, headed by then-NGT chairperson, Justice Swatanter Kumar, had said: “DGCA shall also issue directions that aircraft on landing shall be subjected to surprise inspection to see that human waste tanks are not empty. If any aircraft is found to be violating such circular or (their) tanks are found empty on landing, they shall be subjected to environment compensation of Rs 50,000 per default.”
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The DGCA’s expert committee, meanwhile, on the basis of physical inspection and examination of lavatory drainage systems of various types of aircraft, concluded that disposal of lavatory waste from the aircraft in flight is not possible.
Based on this, the DGCA filed a counter-affidavit before the NGT in May 2018, with a request to review the order and withdraw certain directions for implementation. But the matter is still being heard.
Meanwhile, after repeated reminders from the NGT, the DGCA passed the order imposing the penalty.
It’s just not possible
As per DGCA’s own order of 30 August, aircraft manufacturers Airbus and Boeing have clearly established that dumping of human waste is not possible from aircraft during flight.
A spokesperson for national carrier Air India also said it has been abiding by the norms laid down by the regulatory body, but had never indulged in this practice, and there were no complaints against it.
Echoing this, a spokesperson for Vistara said: “This (mid-air waste dumping) is not possible in modern pressurised aircraft. Vistara follows the designated procedure as per the aircraft maintenance manual, according to which the waste is to be emptied into specialised waste carts.
“These carts empty the waste into especially designed pits allocated by the airport operators. All necessary health, environmental and safety precautions are taken while carrying out these activities.”
According a cabin crew member who wished to remain unidentified, the only way for a Fazilpur Badli-type incident to occur is accidental leakage, no matter how old the plane. Other airlines gave similar answers.
Then how do leaks occur?
Media reports say that around 25 cases of human waste falling from aircraft have been reported every year in Britain alone, where 2.5 million flights originate annually.
There is a huge storage tank in planes, under the cargo hold, where all the human waste is stored. According to airlines, planes do not take off till the entire cabinet and the waste storage tank is cleaned and replaced.
A source from the CAE Oxford Aviation Academy in England said: “Pilots don’t have a button or any hold on the machine inside the aircraft, with which they can dump the waste mid-air, whenever they wish. The waste is supposed to be cleaned from the huge tanks, once the aircraft is on the ground.”
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However, discoloured frozen ice, commonly known as ‘blue ice’, can accidentally leak from an aircraft. It can originate from a leak from a faulty seal on a hose socket which is used to load or unload liquid from the aircraft when on the ground, a report in The Telegraph quoted Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority as saying.
The Oxford academy source said leakages are uncommon, and never intentional.
Why penalise airlines?
The civil aviation ministry has been watching this matter closely, and a senior official insinuated that the NGT order was somewhat populist. “Accidental leakages cannot and should not invite fines,” the official told ThePrint.
The official also pointed out the problems likely to be faced in implementing the penalty. “Hundreds of flights pass through the same airspace every hour. How and whom will the NGT make accountable?”
The NGT chairperson’s office did not respond to queries from ThePrint.