Sunday, October 04, 2015

Woman 'hears' Air India pilot talk of 'last flight', refuses to fly

NEW DELHI: The Germanwings crash and continuing mystery of the missing Malaysian airliner MH 370 seem to have created serious distrust between air travelers and pilots.

On Sunday, an Air India business class passenger onboard the aircraft scheduled to take off from Singapore to Delhi refused to continue her journey after she felt the commander said "this is my last flight" to a ground worker. The passenger, reportedly European, immediately told the crew she wanted to get off the aircraft and then alerted local security agencies, said sources.

Security agencies at Changi Airport asked the pilot to get off the plane. "They spoke to the pilot for about an hour. Only after it became clear to them that there had been a serious misunderstanding, the commander was cleared to operate the flight (AI 381) to Delhi," said a source.

Air India did not comment on the 'misunderstanding'. Sources say the commander was not satisfied with the ground staff over something. The passenger might have misunderstood the pilot saying "I am warning you for the last time" and assumed it to be "last flight". The difference in the accents added to the confusion, they said. The flight took off with an hour's delay.

Original article can be found here:  http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com

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