Chinese pilot banned from flying after photo of woman in cockpit goes viral

A Chinese airline banned its pilot from flying after a photo of a woman in the cockpit went viral on Social media.

The photo was taken on January 4, 2019, on flight GT1011 from Guilin city to Yangzhou city. However, the incident was brought to the airline's attention this week after screenshots of the photo were shared in the micro-blogging site Weibo, BBC reported.

The photo shows a woman making the victory sign with her fingers with the caption-"Thanks to the captain. So happy."

According to the news agency Chinese News Service, the woman is supposedly a flight attendant training at Guilin University.

In a statement, Air Guilin said," he violated [regulations] by allowing irrelevant personnel into the cockpit". Many staff members who were involved in the incident have also been suspended.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China does not allow passengers to enter the cockpit without prior 'special' approval. 

However, it is not clear when during the course of the flight was the picture taken, with many Chinese pilots and analysts suggesting that the photo might have been taken during the flight.