Mumbai/New Delhi: The director general of civil aviation (DGCA), regulatory authority in aviation sector, has issued a show-cause to Air India CEO Campbell Wilson for the airline’s failure in reporting about an incident, in which a pilot had allowed his female friend to enter the cockpit during a Dubai-Delhi flight on February 27, a senior officer said.
A senior DGCA official said that a show-cause notice has also been issued to Tata Group-owned airline’s head of safety, security and quality functions Henry Donohoe in this regard and submit his reply within a fortnight.
A cabin crew member of the flight had filed a complaint with the DGCA about the pilot allowing a female friend into the cockpit. The incident happened on February 27. The show-cause notices were issued to the Air India CEO and the head of flight safety on April 21 for not doing timely reporting of the incident to DGCA, which is in violation of the regulator’s safety instructions, senior official of the DGCA said.
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The DGCA also expressed its reservation over the delay in investigation the incident. “As per the reports, the incident occurred on February 27 and it was reported by confidential mail to Campbell and Donohoe on March 3. The first enquiry was conducted by the DGCA on April 21 while Air India had not done any enquiry before that,” said the DGCA official.
Email sent to the Air India to seek its comment remained un-replied.
Earlier this month, DGCA directed Air India to de-roster the entire crew of the Dubai-Delhi flight till investigations were complete. On April 21, the airline said it had taken serious note of the reported incident and that investigations were underway.
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Unauthorised people are not allowed to enter the cockpit and any such entry could be a violation. Earlier this year Air India was slapped with a fine of ₹30 lakh and ₹10 lakh for not reporting two back-to-back incidents of alleged peeing on its international flights.
