Air India pilot grounded after cockpit punch-up
Another air rage incident has caused the delay of a flight in India, but this time is was not stressed out passengers who were to blame.
An Air India pilot allegedly caused a ruckus and assaulted a ground engineer inside the cockpit as the plane was waiting for clearance to take off.
According to reports, the engineer suffered minor facial injuries that required medical attention after the bust up over a technical issue in the cockpit.
A group of airport engineers also threatened to go on strike after hearing of the incident and demanded action from the police.
After the punch up, the pilot allegedly locked himself in the cockpit.
Reports said Air India has started a probe into the incident and named the pilot as Captain Maniklal Sanghi.
The Chennai-Delhi flight AI 143 carrying 142 passengers took off with a new flight crew around two hours later.
An air safety expert says Indian aviation authorities are not doing enough and should conduct periodic psychological assessment of pilots.
"There have been many instances of violence by crew, but the regulator has not taken action against them. They are back at work after a brief period and we have no proper system to assess the psychological state of pilots unlike those abroad, where medical checks include psychometric tests," said air safety consultant Mohan Ranganathan.
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Editor for TravelMole North America and Asia pacific regions. Ray is a highly experienced (15+ years) skilled journalist and editor predominantly in travel, hospitality and lifestyle working with a huge number of major market-leading brands. He has also cover in-depth news, interviews and features in general business, finance, tech and geopolitical issues for a select few major news outlets and publishers.
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