Man pulled up for smoking near aircraft

A passenger headed for Ahmedabad from Mumbai airport ended up in jail for a night after he was caught smoking near an aircraft on Wednesday.

Sources at the airport said the airline staff, who saw the 26-year-old smoking a cigarette near the aircraft, immediately reported the incident. The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) was then called and later the passenger was handed over to the local domestic airport police.

Sources at the airport told this paper that on Wednesday around 6 pm when the boarding process of an Indigo airlines flight 6E–243 was on, a passenger was seen smoking a cigarette near the wings of the aircraft.

Sources said the staff asked him to stop it. However, the passenger turned a deaf ear to the request. The staff then called in the security agency. Later, the police arrested the passenger who was identified as Hardik Patel (26), a resident of Ahmedabad. Patel was on an official visit to Mumbai.

An official from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said that as per civil aviation regulations 1988 –Reg 255, in-flight smoking is prohibited by almost all airlines.

Also, a notice is permanently displayed in aircrafts indicating that smoking is prohibited at all times.

Earlier on May 3, Vistara Airline offloaded a passenger after he was found to have lighted a cigarette in the aircraft washroom onboard a Mumbai-Delhi-Varanasi flight.

A case has been registered against Patel. He was produced in a local court Thursday afternoon and was released on bail.