Pilot allows female friend into cockpit on Dubai-Delhi flight: DGCA sends notice to Air India CEO

Aviation regulator DGCA has issued a show-cause notice to Air India CEO Campbell Wilson for the airline’s lapses in reporting the incident of a pilot allowing a female friend inside the cockpit during a Dubai-Delhi flight on 27 February, PTI quoted a senior official as saying.

This comes nearly a week after DGCA directed Air India to ground the entire crew of the flight, till investigations are complete, PTI reported.

A show-cause notice has also been issued to the Tata Group-owned airline’s Head of Safety, Security and Quality Functions Henry Donohoe. A cabin crew member of the flight had filed a complaint with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) about the pilot allowing a female friend into the cockpit. The incident happened on February 27.

The show-cause notices were issued to the Air India CEO and the head of flight safety on April 21 for not doing timely reporting of the incident to DGCA, which is in violation of the regulator’s safety instructions, the senior official at the DGCA told PTI on Sunday.

Besides, there was a delay in investigating the incident. Both the executives have been given 15 days to respond to the show-cause notices, the official said. There was no immediate comment from Air India.

According to reports, the incident was reported by confidential mail to Campbell and Donohoe on 3 March. The first inquiry was conducted by the DGCA on 21 April while Air India had not done any inquiry before that.

On 21 April, the airline said it had taken serious note of the reported incident and that investigations were underway. Unauthorised people are not allowed to enter the cockpit and any such entry could be a violation of norms.

It may be recalled that earlier this year Air India was slapped with a fine of Rs 30 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for not reporting two back-to-back incidents of alleged peeing on its international flights.

With inputs from agencies

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