Know how a minute’s delay can cost an Air India pilot dearly

Often, we have seen air passengers suffering because of a delay in flight owing to bad weather or other technical glitch. This time, it’s a pilot of the national carrier Air India has landed in trouble because of a one minute alleged delay in reaching the cockpit. This was revealed in an Economic Times report.

A senior AI commander faces the wrath of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for reaching the cockpit of the aircraft AI 213, just 44 minutes before the schedule departure time. According to the ET, the pilot was supposed to reach there 45 minutes before the Delhi-Kathmandu flight was set to take off on February 26, 2015.

The aviation safety regulator came across this alleged one-minute delay when it carried out spot checks of Air India flights on that day at Delhi airport.

"During spot check it was observed that (the captain) had reported 44 minutes prior to the departure of his scheduled flight AI 213. Whereas in accordance with the operations manual, (the captain) was required to report 45 minutes before the schedule departure in order to carry out cockpit safety checks effectively," the ET quoted a show-cause notice issued on March 13 by DGCA's joint DG Lalit Gupta.

The notice, further added, "Now the captain is hereby called upon to show-cause why action should not be taken against him for the aforesaid violation. Reply to this notice should reach this office within 15 days. If (he) fails to reply within the stipulated time, it will be assumed that he has nothing to say in his defence and suitable action will be taken."

Ever since the US Federal Aviation Administration downgraded the DGCA for poor safety oversight, it has been conducting frequent surprise checks on airlines. According to some senior pilots, DGCA rules about when they should reach the cockpit are still unclear. (Image: Wikimedia)