DGCA suspends pilot’s license for a year for allowing friend inside cockpit
The licence of the Pilot-in-command has been suspended for one year while licence of the First Officer has been suspended for a period of one month
Aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday suspended the license of the pilot who allowed entry of his friend into the cockpit while operating a flight from Chandigarh to Leh, an official statement said on Thursday.
“The pilot license of the PIC (pilot-in-command) has been suspended for a period of one year for misuse of his authority vested under the Aircraft Rules 1937 and allowing violation of the applicable DGCA regulations,” a DGCA official said.
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He also added that the co-pilot was also punished for not raising the violation by the pilot in command.
“The pilot license of the first officer has been suspended for a period of one month for not being assertive in preventing and non-reporting of the violation,” he said.
The incident took place on an Air India flight AI-458 (Chandigarh – Leh) on June 3 when the pilot allowed an unauthorised person, a helicopter pilot, into the cockpit.
The DGCA stated that the helicopter pilot entered into the cockpit during departure and remained in the cockpit throughout the flight.
The incident had come to light after a male cabin crew on board had filed an official complaint after landing.
In an earlier statement issued by the airline, it said, “Air India has a Just Culture approach to all safety related events and has a zero tolerance for deliberate breaches of regulations. Such breaches are dealt with on a serious basis and sanctions will be imposed on those who are in breach of the regulations.”
Officials from the airline also confirmed to HT that they had suspended the pilot for six months and the co-pilot for one month.
“The matter was reported to the DGCA immediately after the airline learnt about it,” an airline official said.
This is the second such incident in the last four months.
In April, HT had exclusively reported about an Air India pilot operating from Dubai to Delhi as AI 915 on February 27, who had invited his woman friend in the cockpit, violating the aviation regulator’s safety norms.
The DGCA suspended the pilot’s license for three months and imposed a fine of ₹30 lakh on Air India for not informing the matter to the regulator.
