Sunday Times 2
Air India suspends co-pilot, two cabin crew for ‘over stay’ ‘overstay’ in cockpit
View(s):Flying doesn’t get more bizarre than this: an Airbus A-320 flying from Bangkok to New Delhi with 166 passengers, co-pilot snoozing in business class, and pilot teaching two air hostesses how to fly in the cockpit. Things could get worse, and they did, for sources say the pilot then left the air hostesses in the driving seats as he too went for a business class snooze.
An Air India official admits the cockpit was in air hostess control for 20 minutes, sources say 40, but Director General of Civil Aviation Arun Mishra has said that the air hostesses stayed in the cockpit for the “larger part of the three-hour flight”.
On Friday, the national carrier suspended a pilot, the captain of the April 12 Airbus A-320 Bangkok- New Delhi flight, his co-pilot, and two flight attendants who had accidentally switched off the autopilot in the cockpit momentarily, risking the lives of everybody on board.
According to sources, pilot BK Soni and co-pilot Ravindra Nath napped in business class, leaving flight attendants Kanika Kala and J Bhatt in charge of the plane. A senior member of the cabin crew witnessed the entire drama and brought the matter to the notice of the airline’s management. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has started a probe into the incident.
Air hostesses are allowed in the cockpit, but only for the amount of time it takes to serve a cup of tea or a snack. It is normal practice, again, to call a cabin crew member into the cockpit if one of the pilots is to leave it for some reason.
By no stretch of the imagination, or rules, does that extend beyond a few minutes. “It is a serious matter. We are investigating the case,” Mishra said.
Follow @timesonlinelk
comments powered by Disqus