Drunk pilot delays AI fight to New York by 45 min
The management, system, disciplines, and
operations, all have gone disarray in Air India it seems. This airline is in the news in the recent months for all the wrong reasons. In spite of having so many problems, no one is serious to turn the table in favor of the airline.
The delay of the flight due to a drunken
pilot, the passengers lost unnecessarily three quarter of an hour. The airline must compensate the passengers for the time loss for frivolous reason. The Air India prestigious flight AI-141 left at 1-30 am instead of 00-45 hours after derostering the
drunk pilot, and taking Captain Ramalingam in his place.
For every minute in delay, there is cost involvement for the airline. Who cares for this cost factor, after all it is a government organization. Between the period July 2008 and 2009, 29 pilots were found drunk; good statistics – isn’t it?
The Boeing 777-200 LR is a non-stop flight to New York from Mumbai with 15 to 17 hours flying time. For this flight, no excuse is permitted for delaying the flight. In this circumstance, the airline should have taken all the measures for on time departure, instead of declaring operations delay, which is just nonsense. The reliable source has confirmed that this flight is a prestigious flight for Air India.
The rule for a driver on the road says, caught on drunk driving twice will permanently lose the license, what about the pilot license? Although, the permissible level of alcohol for the pilots is zero, but punishment for them is not clear under the rule 24 in this respect. Funny, it seems. What really happen on the ground is, some airlines restrict their pilots to fly for three months if caught on drunk, others just manage with those pilots showing arbitrary rule. The first time violators get no punishment except a warning.