First it was pilots reporting drunk to work. Now, it's smoking. In the latest blow to the airline industry, a pilot has been shot on mobile camera smoking in air.
NEW DELHI: First it was pilots reporting drunk to work. Now, it's smoking. In the latest blow to the airline industry, a pilot has been shot on mobile camera smoking in air.
SpiceJet Airline was forced to suspend one of its senior pilots after the clip showed him smoking in the cockpit. The Director General of Civil Aviation has launched an investigation into the incident as government regulations prohibit smoking in all Indian aircraft.
Adding a twist to the case is the fact that the cellphone clip was shot by a co-pilot while they were flying from Delhi to Goa.
What has rattled the DGCA and security agencies is that the pilot managed to sneak in the cigarettes and lighter into the aircraft.
"Either security personnel failed to detect it, or they were lax because he was a pilot. Either way it is a failure," says a senior official. "Smoking inside aircraft is strictly prohibited. The allegations and the footage are frightening. We will get to the bottom of the case," Kanu Gohain, Director General Civil Aviation, told DNA.
Top honchos of the airline have gone into a huddle after the clip was aired by a newly launched news channel. Senor airline officials confirmed that the errant pilot, identified as Captain Banerji, has been suspended with immediate effect.
Authoritative sources told DNA that this is the second case of a SpiceJet pilot found smoking in the aircraft. In the earlier instance, the top management of the airline had received a complaint.
"The complaint had come from a flight crew. The pilot was asked to clarify his position. Since there was no evidence, the pilot was let off with a warning," said a senior SpiceJet official.
Industry insiders, however, are not surprised. "Sometimes pilots smoke in the cockpit during the turnaround time. But that is illegal and they can be suspended if caught,'' said the airline executive of a low cost airline.
All airlines carry out a pre-flight alcohol test of the flight crew and pilots but there is no check done to find out if a pilot is smoking in the cockpit.
"It is for the airline to make sure its staff doesn't violate the rule. Also, no complaint of a pilot smoking in air has to come to light till now," said a DGCA official.
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