Chennai: Pilot Maniklal Sanghi, who was grounded after he hit an aircraft maintenance engineer in the cockpit of a flight at Chennai airport on Saturday, has a history of courting trouble.
Sources told TOI that an investigation was pending against him for refusing to fly a Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram flight last year. The airline, which incurred loss, planned to fine him, but he was allowed to fly.
The last time a similar incident happened on an Air India flight was in 2009 when a co-pilot and a cabin crew member came to blows in front of passengers on a Dubai-Delhi flight. The flight attendant said the co-pilot tried to molest her.
Aviation experts and senior pilots say such instances do not just amount to embarrassment for passengers, they also make flying unsafe. They vote for a stringent periodic psychological assessment of pilots. "This will act as a deterrent. Most of the time, erring pilots use influence and continue to fly," said a pilot.
"Indiscipline cannot be allowed to grow. It will simmer and explode. A pilot will not be in the best frame of mind to fly after an argument or a fight. It is good that Air India replaced the pilot this time, but often managements and the aviation regulator do not take strong action," said air safety expert Mohan Ranganathan.
17/01/15 V Ayyappan/Times of India
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Sources told TOI that an investigation was pending against him for refusing to fly a Chennai-Thiruvananthapuram flight last year. The airline, which incurred loss, planned to fine him, but he was allowed to fly.
The last time a similar incident happened on an Air India flight was in 2009 when a co-pilot and a cabin crew member came to blows in front of passengers on a Dubai-Delhi flight. The flight attendant said the co-pilot tried to molest her.
Aviation experts and senior pilots say such instances do not just amount to embarrassment for passengers, they also make flying unsafe. They vote for a stringent periodic psychological assessment of pilots. "This will act as a deterrent. Most of the time, erring pilots use influence and continue to fly," said a pilot.
"Indiscipline cannot be allowed to grow. It will simmer and explode. A pilot will not be in the best frame of mind to fly after an argument or a fight. It is good that Air India replaced the pilot this time, but often managements and the aviation regulator do not take strong action," said air safety expert Mohan Ranganathan.
17/01/15 V Ayyappan/Times of India
