Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi (SHP)
New Delhi, Jul 17: Three pilots were suspended by Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Tuesday. One from national carrier, Air India and two from private airline SpiceJet for violating safety norms. The DGCA also went ahead and grounded one Vistara pilot for indulging in diversion of his flight for false reasons and a cabin crew of Air India was also suspended.
DGCA revoked the flying licences of all the three pilots for six months. According to sources, the SpiceJet pilots, Aarati Gunasekaran and Saurabh Gulia have been suspended due to an incident which took place on June 2, when their aircraft damaged runway edge lights during landing.
On June 17, cabin crew member Rajat Verman was involved in tense argument with pilot Milind, which progressed into a physical altercation between them. The incident took place just as the plane was about to depart from Bengaluru to Kolkata. The argument caused the flight to be delayed by two hours and took off only after the crew and captain were replaced. "I heard that the captain wanted the crew member to clean the tiffin after he finished his meal. Probably, this is what led to a fight between them. An investigation is underway and strict action will be taken," an Air India official said.
A pilot from Vistara has been grounded following an incident of flight diversion on June 15. The pilot had diverted the flight from Mumbai to Delhi to Lucknow stating bad weather, however, on further inquiry it was found that the aircraft had low amount fuel.
On July 16 the DGCA asked Air India to take 'strict' action against their airline pilot who is said to have reportedly failed the alcohol test twice. The pilot first failed the test on October 21, 2015, when he was scheduled to fly an aircraft from Goa, he then failed the test again on July 13, when he was off duty but wanted to travel as an Additional Crew Member (ACM) in the cockpit.