Bad Behavior of Pilots, Crew and Passengers Poses Big Safety Risk During Flights

This weekend, crewmembers and pilots aboard an Air India flight had an argument escalate to physical fighting while the plane was in flight. Not only did the incident showcase highly unprofessional behavior, it also posed a serious risk to all those aboard the plane. But the Air India case is not the first incident in which the reckless behavior of those on board a plane has put the rest of the passengers and crew in danger.
Last February, as Colgan Air Flight 3407 approached Buffalo, N.Y., the pilot and copilot noticed ice on the windshield, and then, according to the Telegraph, began to chat about their past flights, about the copilot’s head congestion, and about other trivial topics. Regulations prohibit pilots from discussing anything other than the flight at hand when performing complex operations such as landing, and in this case as the two pilots discussed other things, the plane accumulated ice and eventually crashed.
On October 31, 1999, EgyptAir flight 990 disappeared from the radar in a matter of minutes, losing altitude so fast that the radar equipment registered it as a malfunction of the signal. After a two-year investigation that caused a rift in relations between the U.S. and Egypt, the official report from the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the accident was caused by a “departure from normal cruise flight and subsequent impact with the Atlantic Ocean as a result of the relief first officer’s flight control inputs.” Essentially, the copilot, left alone for just minutes while the pilot used the restroom, put the plane into a nosedive.
In some more shocking cases, pilots have been accused of showing up to fly while intoxicated. Last October at London’s Heathrow airport a pilot failed a breathalyzer and was arrested while on board a plane he was scheduled to fly. According to The Sun, a member of the ground crew alerted police that the pilot may have been drinking before the flight.
In December of 2008 a New York-bound flight from Moscow was delayed when passengers suspected that the pilot was drunk, reported the Times Online. The pilot was allegedly slurring his speech during pre-flight announcements, and passengers began to demand a new crew, the airline later said that no alcohol was detected in the pilot’s blood and suggested that the pilot may have suffered a stroke before the flight.
06/10/09 Haley A. Lovett/finding Dulcinea

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Categories: Air India Domestic Oct 2009, Foreign Oct 2009, NACIL Oct 2009, Safety Oct 2009