Two days after an Air Deccan aircraft flying from Coimbatore to Bangalore skidded off the runway at the Bangalore airport, preliminary investigations reveal it was the co-pilot, not the pilot, who was carrying out the landing and that could have led to the accident.

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) is learnt to have taken a serious view of the preliminary findings which indicate that Capt Roger Ziba, a Zambian pilot, was not manning the controls of the aircraft at the time of landing. His licence to fly in India has been suspended. First Officer Sewant, the Indian co-piloting Ziba and the one believed to have conducted the landing, has been grounded for now. Sources said the co-pilot’s handling of the landing was not in tune with DGCA guidelines and was being investigated.

Flying from Coimbatore to Bangalore, ATR-72-500 skidded off the runway at Bangalore Airport on March 11. Forty-four passengers were on board, including four crew members. The incident caused a disruption of around five hours at the airport causing delays in many take-offs and landings.

Air Deccan’s Chief Operating Officer Warwick Brady, meanwhile, said: ‘‘It would be unfair to say anything about the pilots at this stage. Roger Ziba, the pilot flying the ATR, has a total of 12,300 hours of flying experience out of which 8,380 hours are on ATRs. This makes him an experienced pilot. First Officer Sewant, who was co-piloting the aircraft, has a total of 500 hours of flying experience out of which 300 hours are on ATRs.”

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