DGCA grounds two Air India pilots for allowing friend in cockpit

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has grounded two Tata Group-owned Air India pilots for an incident in which one of the pilots allowed a female friend inside the cockpit during a domestic flight recently, a DGCA official said on Tuesday.

The official also said that the regulator received a report from the airline (into the incident) and has completed its investigation.

Air India, in a statement, without sharing any details about the incident, said that "such breaches are dealt with on a serious basis, and sanctions will be imposed on those who are in breach of the regulations".

Also Read | IndiGo aircraft suffers tail strike on arrival at Delhi airport

It may be mentioned here that the DGCA had last month slapped a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Air India for not reporting a similar incident that took place on its Dubai-Delhi flight in February this year.

"We have received the report (into the incident) and completed our investigation. The pilots have been grounded," the DGCA official said.

As per DGCA safety norms, unauthorised people are not allowed to enter the cockpit, and any such entry could violate norms.

"Air India has a Just culture approach to all safety-related events and has a zero tolerance for deliberate breaches of regulations," an Air India spokesperson said in the statement without mentioning information about the incident.

"Such breaches are dealt with on a serious basis, and sanctions will be imposed on those who are in breach of the regulations," the spokesperson added.

In the February incident, the aviation regulator slapped a fine of Rs 30 lakh on Air India for lapses in effectively addressing the "safety-sensitive issue" related to the incident of a pilot allowing a female friend into the cockpit during a Delhi-Dubai flight on February 27.

This was the third time in less than four months that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has fined Air India, which is now under the control of Tata Group, for lapses.

While imposing the penalty, the DGCA had said that Air India did not take prompt corrective action.

In connection with the Delhi-Dubai flight incident, the regulator has also suspended the licence of the pilot who operated the flight for three months, and the co-pilot was warned for not being assertive in preventing the violation.

Besides, the airline has been directed to take administrative action against the "Staff On Duty (SOD)/passenger, including removal from any managerial functions in the organisation for a specified period".

While acknowledging and accepting the DGCA ruling, the airline rejected the "assertion that no action was taken by Air India in response to the complaint".