AI pilot in lunch box spat suspended for 6 months
The incident took place on June 17 when the flight was to take off from the Bengaluru airport for Kolkata.
New Delhi: Director General of Civil Aviation on Monday suspended a pilot of Air India for six months for his alleged involved in a “heated argument” and “physical altercation” with a cabin crew member in the aircraft before it was about to take off.
“Air India pilot in command Captain Milind has been suspended by the DGCA for a period of six months from the date of the incident,” a source said. Captain Milind and cabin crew member Rajat Verman were involved in a “heated argument and thereafter physical altercation when the aircraft was on ground.
The pilot had allegedly asked the crew member to clean his lunch box provoking a heated argument. The incident took place on June 17 when the flight was to take off from the Bengaluru airport for Kolkata.
The DGCA had issued a show-cause notice to the pilot on June 28, asking him to explain in writing why action should not be taken against him. “The reply of the show-cause notice was reviewed by the regulator and it was not found satisfactory. As a result, he has been suspended for six months,” the source said.
Meanwhile, in wake of SpiceJet’s Mumbai airport incident, the DGCA asked Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore and Guwahati airports to buy Airport Retrieval Kit by March 2020. Aircraft overshot the runway and it took 90 hours to lift the aircraft from the mud and grass where it was stuck and bring it on to the tarmac to be pulled away.
As a result the Mumbai international airport was shut for four days.
“During the recent incident in Mumbai, recovery of aircraft took more than three days, resulting in closure of main runway thus cancellation and diversion of many flights. As there is only one old recovery kit available with Air India which is not adequate for a large number of airports and types of aircrafts operating in India. During the meeting held on 9.7.2019, it was decided that major airports in India should have Disabled Aircraft Recovery Kit to meet exigencies at the airports,” the DGCA order said.