Mid-air brawl: DGCA suspends licence of Jet Airways pilot
Mumbai, Jan 3 (PTI) Aviation regulator DGCA todaysuspended the flying licence of a senior Jet Airways pilot whoallegedly slapped a female commander of the airline's London-Mumbai flight on January 1.
The pilot's flying licence has been suspended pendinginvestigation, a senior official of the Directorate General ofCivil Aviation (DGCA) told PTI.
The two senior pilots have been grounded by Jet Airwayssince the incident.
Besides physically assaulting the woman commander, thepilot also left the cockpit unattended twice, which is inviolation of the safety norms leading to the suspension of hislicence, according to the official.
The aircraft was in the Iran-Pakistan airspace and was2.45 hours away from its destination when the incident tookplace, an airline source told PTI.
When contacted, a Jet Airways spokesperson said there wasa "misunderstanding" between the cockpit crew and the same was"resolved amicably" and "quickly".
"A misunderstanding occurred between the cockpit crew of9W119 London-Mumbai flight on January 1. However, the same wasquickly resolved amicably and the flight with 324 guestsincluding two infants and 14 crew members completed itsjourney in Mumbai safely," the airline spokesperson said.
However, the source alleged that the male pilot who hasbeen working with the airline for over a decade had some"argument" with the female commander over some issues.
The source said these two senior pilots have been flyingtogether for many years and have had arguments in the past aswell. But on Monday, arguments turned violent and the malepilot slapped the woman commander after which she came out ofthe cabin crying, the source alleged.
"The cabin crew persuaded her to go back to the cockpitbut she refused. Following this, the male pilot came out ofthe cockpit, leaving the operations to the care of a cabincrew (which is a violation of flight safety norms) andpersuaded her to return to the cockpit," the source said.
The airline has reported the matter to the DGCA and thepilots involved in the incident have been taken off dutypending investigation, the airline spokesperson said. PTI IASJC BENABM.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.