Refuse to fly after plane makes emergency stop for ailing passenger

Refuse to fly after plane makes emergency stop for ailing passenger
Swati Chaturvedi

New Delhi, March 30: Air India pilots never seem to learn. Their blackmail of passengers continues. If the last time, they forced over 400 passengers to wait for hours just because they couldn't get their friends on board, this time their victims were passengers of AI flight 700 flying between Dubai-Cochin on February 14.

After making an emergency landing in Mumbai because a passenger had a heart attack on board, the pilots refused to fly on to Cochin claiming that they had returned to base and a fresh crew should pilot the aircraft.

Nine hours later, the AI management succumbed after airport security was called in to pacify more than 350 agitated passengers who were demonstrating and the 747/200 took off with a fresh crew.

Jyoti Kalani, Senior Manager AI when contacted by The Indian Express declined to comment.

The sequence of events is revealing. Passenger M P Veeran had a heart attack on board when the aircraft was just 250 nautical miles away from Cochin. He started having convulsions and a doctor present on board the flight, R Thomas, diagnosed a heart attack and said he needed ``immediate aid.''

The aircraft, therefore, made an emergency landing on ``humanitarian grounds'' in Mumbai which was the nearest airport and the passenger was rushed to Cooper hospital.

That's when the nightmare of more than 350 passengers on board the aircraft began as Captain A A Gadgil and D Janardan flatly refused to fly to Cochin. The reason: The aircraft had returned to base (Mumbai) and they wanted a fresh crew to pilot the aircraft. AI management and ground crew including the Director of Operations V Sheshadhari who was present at the airport begged and pleaded but the pilots refused to budge.

The crisis lasted nine full hours until a new crew flew the plane. Sources say that this was a clear case of blackmail as the pilots had not exceeded their Flight Daily Time Limitation (FDTL) of eight hours. The management also told Gadgil and Janardan that the return-to-base rationale was not applicable as the landing at Mumbai airport was not a ``scheduled stop.''

Says a senior AI official: ``The passengers were so angry they attacked our ground crew and then security had to be called in the director operations virtually begged the pilots to continue but they simply would not listen. All this was in full view of the passengers.''

The culmination of this and other incidents where the pilots have blackmailed the management is that last week the Indian Flight Engineers Association, Air Cabin Crew Association and other AI associations issued a notice to the AI management saying that: ``If pilots disrupt a flight they will not handle the flight as their members have to face abuse and are manhandled by the passengers''.

It may be recalled that AI pilots had forced the cancellation of the Mumbai-London-Chicago flight on February 17 by reporting sick severely inconveniencing over 400 passengers. All because they wanted legitimate passengers offloaded to make way for their friends. AI, Chairman, and Secretary, Civil Aviation, Ravindra Gupta is presently in Mumbai trying to sort out the impasse by holding a meeting with the pilots. Says a senior AI official: ``The pilots are holding AI to ransom the entire airline wants action to be taken against them but, the aviation ministry will have to give a direction.''