Two Air India pilots involved in a cockpit fight before the takeoff of a flight from Jaipur to the country's capital of Delhi on Sunday evening have been suspended.
A spokesman for the airline told the
Wall Street Journal's India Real Time that the commander of the flight and his co-pilot were both suspended pending an investigation. The confrontation happened before they took off in Jaipur but the crew decided to continue to Delhi and report the incident to keep from inconveniencing passengers.
Air India told the
Times of India there was just an argument between the two, but witnesses told the news agency that there was a fight in which the co-pilot beat up the commander.
"The commander told his co-pilot to take down critical take-off figures for the flight," a source told the Times of India. "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 offense at this and reportedly beat up the captain."
After reporting the incident, the captain flew to his home base in Mumbai.
An anonymous Air India commander told the Times of India that the same co-pilot has had problems with other commanders in the past.
"Three years back, he asked the commander of a flight to come out of the co-ckpit, remove the stars on his shirt collar and then fought with him," the anonymous senior commander told the Times of India. "A year later, another commander complained about his 'rude and unbecoming' behavior in the cockpit and questioned his state of mind."
India Real Time reported that in 2013, Air India suspended a pilot and two flight attendants after local media reported that both pilots operating a Bangkok to New Delhi flight left control of the plane in the hands of two flight attendants so the pilots could take a nap.
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