Airline files police complaint against mother-daughter duo for creating a ruckus inside Delhi-Mumbai flight
Their behaviour probably put at risk the lives of 190 passengers on board as they kept banging on the cockpit door even as the pilots were taxiing for take-off. A police complaint was filed by the airline against the family for their alleged violent behaviour.
SG 9282, a Boeing 737 aircraft, scheduled for departure at 12 noon originally, was rescheduled to 4.30 pm prior to the incident itself, said an airport source. In the aftermath of the incident, the flight had to be taken back to the bay and it finally took off to Mumbai by 7.15 pm, he added.
A source in the know of the incident, said, 'The duo was screaming that the air-conditioning inside was not cool enough. Just as the flight was taxiing for take-off around 4.30 pm, they unfastened their seat belts and went rushing to the door of the cockpit and began banging on it.'
The cabin crew tried to restrain them but the duo elbowed their way through. 'Since the cockpit door is tightly shut from inside, they kept banging on it demanding it be opened. Co-passengers too were appalled and worried by their behaviour. Some were seen ordering them get back to their seats or leave the flight. One of the pilots too made an announcement asking them to not behave in this fashion,' a source said.
Another source added, 'This kind of violent behaviour cannot be tolerated. Hence, the airline decided to take serious action against them by offloading them, handing them over to the CISF and filing a police complaint,' said a source.
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The Print
12 hours ago
- The Print
Indian aviation has a ‘safety culture' problem. Airline carriers, training institutes share blame
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One passenger succumbed to a spinal injury later, while three others too were grievously hurt. Notably, three defects involving the weather radar system were reported just days before, between 14 and 30 April, although none of them officially pertained to that particular aircraft. Several media reports suggested that pilots had raised doubts on the dependability of the weather radar system of this fleet. Moreover, post the May incident, SpiceJet had returned the aircraft to its lessor without obtaining the necessary clearance from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) or AAIB, and before complete information from the airline could be obtained regarding repeated weather radar related snags, the final report said. Such lapses and violations are not one-offs. Oversight failures by aircraft operators, glider clubs, etc are as endemic as they are persistent. And the picture is no better in the training ecosystem. 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A similar pattern is seen with FTOs—DGCA-approved institutes that impart training to those looking to secure pilot licences. This pertains to oversight including improper briefing procedures, vague tech logs, substandard training, lack of weather monitoring mechanisms, faulty maintenance, flying instructors not sticking to SOPs, not incorporating night flying SOP, non-existent SOPs for radio telephony communications between ground and flight staff, lack of CCTV inside FTO premises, etc. Take for example the 2016 accident of a glider aircraft during a routine flight: the AAIB had flagged various concerns about the Hadapsar Gliding Centre, that was run by the DGCA till December last year. The centre didn't have SOPs in place for emergency situations, the Bureau said in its report, adding that the DGCA hadn't uploaded its own glider circulars on the website to be readily accessed by glider training institutes. 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'In the past, there have been occurrences (incidents and accidents) to the aircraft operated by the organisation under similar circumstances and more or less due to the same inactions/errors by the flight crew,' the AAIB said. 'The investigation of these occurrences and those to the aircraft operated by other organisations had given recommendations to obviate these occurrences in future. It was observed that the majority of the safety recommendations were either not implemented in true letter and spirit or the action taken has withered away with passage of time.' SpiceJet, the Bureau found, also didn't have an active flight watch or monitoring programme. 'It is vital that AAIB closes the loop with critical recommendations and directives post incident and accident investigation to all operators and such directives enforced with stringent regulations by the DGCA so as to ensure minimal compromise in safety in aviation. 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The action came after an instructor and a trainee pilot were killed in an air crash near Jamshedpur in August, 2024. Another accident involving an air ambulance was reported at Mumbai airport in May 2021. The inquiry revealed that the positions of quality manager and the chief of flight safety have been at a 'higher attrition rate than the others within the company — Jet Serve Aviation'. 'The chief of flight safety post has been inconsistent since 2019 and was lying vacant as on the date of the accident,' the AAIB noted. Jet Serve Aviation also had approval to operate as an FTO. While the AAIB noted that the aircraft suffered a mechanical failure, it couldn't ascertain the root cause of this failure. Both cases involved Beechcraft King Air C90 A aircraft. In January 2023, Falcon Aviation Academy lost a chief flight instructor in a crash at Rewa while the trainee pilot was grievously injured. Investigators found the Cessna 152 aircraft had taken off in night conditions in spite of the stipulated visuality. Falcon had no local visibility arrangements in Rewa and didn't follow set protocols for coordination with ATC in Varanasi. Notably, in an accident in February 2022 wherein a trainee pilot lost his life in Nalgonda, the AAIB found out that the FTO—Flytech Aviation Academy—during maintenance and inspections failed to detect the deteriorated conditions of control cables and other instruments of the Cessna 152 aircraft. But the operator's records showed all scheduled inspections had been completed, the inspection of the wreckage showed that the aircraft was not maintained as those records claimed. The AAIB couldn't fully ascertain the exact cause of the accident, but suggested that it was due to technical faults with the aircraft. 'While no snag was documented pending on the aircraft prior to the accident flight, the investigation team found a number of deficiencies in maintenance,' the report said. 'As per the documents maintained by the operator, all Inspection Schedules (Operations) were compiled on the aircraft. However, wreckage examination revealed that aircraft condition prior to the accident was not in line with work completed under those schedules. Conditions of a few control cables and associated components were found beyond the limits. Lack of lubrication, corrosion and groove marks were noticed on a few pulleys,' the AAIB said. (Edited by Tony Rai) Also Read: Recurring aircraft defects to faded runway lines, DGCA check reveals safety lapses at key airports
NDTV
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- NDTV
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Time of India
4 days ago
- Time of India
Will keep the vigil up: Docs mark anniv at RG Kar, outside
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