Nothing much happened on Air India's flight No 133 from Bangkok to New Delhi on April 12. Except that two flight attendants spent almost 60 minutes inside the cockpit. That at one point while flying auto-pilot 33,000 feet above the ground, they briefly even occupied the seat of the pilot and the co-pilot. And that during the unprofessional episode, the auto pilot's disconnect button had been pressed inadvertently for a few moments.
The bizarre incident came to light when a crew member (who wasn't invited to the cockpit by the commander) filed an anonymous complaint to the authorities. Now the airline has suspended the commander of the flight along with the two air hostesses. Directorate general of civil aviation chief Arun Mishra has also ordered a probe into this incident and asked AI to submit a detailed report.
According to sources, Captain BK Soni called two flight attendants inside the cockpit of the Airbus A-321. "The aircraft was flying on auto-pilot at that time. The co-pilot left his seat to go to the toilet. When he returned, he found that the commander had made the ladies sit on the pilot's and co-pilot's seats. After the co-pilot, a senior flyer on the verge of becoming a captain himself, objected, the ladies left their seats," a source said. There were unconfirmed reports that at one point, only the flight attendants were inside the cockpit and both the pilots were out.
03/05/13 Times of India
