Air India jet left without pilot as crew fought each over

[Watchman]

Air India jet left without pilot as crew fought each over

An Air India jet was left without a pilot as it flew 30,000 ft above Pakistan when its captain and cabin crew pilot staged a fist-fight in front of terrified passengers, a tribunal has heard.


By Dean Nelson in New Delhi
Published: 6:22PM BST 06 Oct 2009

The fight broke out after the captain complained that one of the staff had failed to wish his co-pilot good luck.

According to witnesses the cockpit of Air India flight IC884 was left unmanned as its captain fought with his purser, putting the lives of their 106 passengers at risk, the tribunal heard.

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Pilots in punch-up at 30,000ft

They told the tribunal that Captain Ranbir Arora had called a cabin attendant, Komal, and purser, Amit Khanna, into the cockpit shortly after take off from Shahjah in the United Arab Emirates, to remonstrate with them for not wishing their co-pilot "good luck".

The purser and captain began pushing and cursing one another at the door of the cockpit, and their scuffle spilled out into the passenger gangway where it became a fight.

"I went towards the cockpit and saw the doors were flung open and the commander and co-pilot standing in the cockpit. Capt Ranbir Arora's tie was off and he pushed the flight purser out of the cockpit and used un-parliamentary language. Capt Arora then pushed Komal and she fell backwards against me," said one crew member.

Although the airline was flying on auto-pilot, the co-pilot and captain must monitor the instruments and flight path in case of technical problems. If both had left the cockpit, they would be in serious breach of safety regulations.