NEW DELHI: Amid rising aviation safety concerns over pilots' mental health, an Air India aircraft's cockpit witnessed some tense scenes between the captain and his deputy at Jaipur on Sunday evening just before the Airbus A-320 was to take off for Delhi. While numerous airline sources said that the co-pilot abused and beat up the commander, an AI spokesman said that "there was an argument between the two and nothing more."
The heated scenes were witnessed when AI 611 was getting ready to fly for Delhi. "The commander told his co-pilot to take down critical take off figures for the flight. This involves writing critical facts like number of passengers on board, take off weight and fuel uptake on a small paper card (trim sheet) that is displayed in front of the pilots for the entire duration of the flight. The co-pilot took offence at this and reportedly beat up the captain," said a source.
"In the larger interest of the airline", the commander decided to go ahead with the flight and flew to Delhi. The normal procedure would have been to report this incident in Jaipur but that would have led to the flight being cancelled and passengers being left stranded. On landing here, the captain is learnt to have made a log entry with AI movement control after which he flew to his home base, Mumbai.
The AI spokesman said: "The two had an argument. They have settled the issue."
According to senior AI commanders, the co-pilot in question has reportedly faced similar charges in the past too. "Three years back, he asked the commander of a flight to come out of the cockpit, remove the stars on his shirt collar (appulates) and then fought with him. A year later, another commander complained about his 'rude and unbecoming' behavior in the cockpit and questioned his state of mind," said a senior commander.
"AI and DGCA should examine this latest problem in the cockpit. If the complaints about the said co-pilot's behavior are found true, then in the interest of aviation safety the authorities must act," said a pilot
Neither DGCA chief M Sathiyavathy, nor her deputies could be reached for comments.
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