The story is going around of two Air India pilots who allegedly got in a cockpit fight yesterday after the captain asked the first officer to write down critical information (how dare he!!!).
Via Yahoo News:
The co-pilot allegedly assaulted the captain inside the cockpit as they were preparing the passenger plane for takeoff from the Indian tourist city of Jaipur to New Delhi on Sunday night, the Hindustan Times newspaper said.
The co-pilot was irritated by his superior’s request to write down critical information for the flight, such as the number of passengers on board, take off weight and fuel uptake, the Times Of India reported.
“The co-pilot took offence at this and reportedly beat up the captain,” the newspaper said, quoting unnamed sources.
“In the larger interest of the airline the commander decided to go ahead with the flight and flew to Delhi,” the daily added.
Goodness, I don’t know which part of that is most, erm, interesting — the fact that the first officer was allegedly offended by the captain asking him to write down critical information, or the fact that the captain made the decision to fly with the first officer after being “beat up,” in “the larger interest of the airline?”
And we wonder why Air India literally couldn’t get a single person to apply to be a pilot with them…
@ Joe - it's a good thing he wasn't German. Otherwise, he would've flown the plane into a mountain.
I didn't know Jeremy Clarkson knew how to fly a plane.
I did know about James May's G-OCOK plane registration though.
Ben
For a guy who has been around the globe (several times), your reaction to AI continues to surprise me. You have mentioned several times you enjoy "observing and learning" rather than touristy stuff. Clearly, you have a little bit of "observe and learn" to do on government employees in India.
AI is a GoI owned airline (which says a lot about it)!! Their employees are equivalent of postal service employees... but only worse....
Ben
For a guy who has been around the globe (several times), your reaction to AI continues to surprise me. You have mentioned several times you enjoy "observing and learning" rather than touristy stuff. Clearly, you have a little bit of "observe and learn" to do on government employees in India.
AI is a GoI owned airline (which says a lot about it)!! Their employees are equivalent of postal service employees... but only worse. There is little to no supervisory oversight and no consequences to any actions. It's not they are incompetent (like our TSA), they just don't care. And, they don't have a reason to do so.
Having said all that, title for this post really sounds like sensationalist media. Try spending a little more time at DEL/BOM (not in the lounges) , but in the terminals and see how the airport employees behave. Now put the same people in uniform and let's call them... flight crew. Now get the picture?
After the German wings incident did they really have to fly after a scuffle between the captain and the first officer?
Wouldn't it have been more sensible if the first officer was offloaded after all airlines like Korean air offload their crew for serving nuts in a bag!
It's a good job the pilot wasn't female. The co-pilot would have probably tried to rape as well as assault
How is an airline with such staff behavior and total disregard for it's passengers safety be allowed to be a Star Alliance member. This is absolutely shameful.
Is that notation something flight attendants are expected to do and the co-pilot felt it beneath him? Not that it would be an excuse for assault either way. Personally think the larger interest of the airline would be better served getting a violent man out of the plane.