Having sat on the ground at Mumbai for nearly 3 hours trying to get start-up last week after the ATR 72 mishap / runway closure / bad wx event , and listening to the local aircrew ranting non-stop at the poor ground controller who was manfully trying to get them out of there , I was wondering if the bad attitude ( which they would not dare do in Dubai / Europe etc ) was caused by poor professionalism or the apparent disdain Indians show for anyone of a perceived 'lower' status ? It was quite disturbing to listen to .
I did enjoy the ME controller last week who ignored an AI pilot saying ' AIXXX , Descent' 3 times until he used the word 'Request Descent ' whereupon the controller piped up ' Thats better , cleared descend.........' !!
On another note , if , as has been reported , the government ie DGCAM/DCA is ordering the removal of expats by June , why are they allowing Air India Express to recruit more expats as witnessed in the foreign press recently ? Will they be offering 3 month contracts ( the other 3 months of the next 6 months will be used to issue the licences etc )
Fly Safe
KK