Misbehaving Indian MP Threatens To Jail Upright Air India Pilot

[jetsreams]

This is with reference to a recent news item of an Air India pilot Capt Rana,offloading a Indian Member of Parliament, Mr Wahab, for alleged misbehavior. The MP allegedly delayed the flight by arriving late and when the pilot objected, entered the flight deck prior to departure and called the pilot a “glorified driver”. The MP has also threatened to unleash a “breach of privilege motion” against the pilot where a committee of MPs can send the pilot to jail for allegedly insulting an important political functionary.

It takes an Indian airline pilot almost 5 to 10 years of rigorous training, thousands of hours of experience, with a minimum passing score of 80 percent in numerous aviation subjects and various practical tests to qualify as a commander of an aircraft. He is solely responsible for a machine worth millions of dollars and numerous human lives. Every action he takes is recorded in a data recorder or a black box - no other job in the world requires a person to be more accountable. He is directly responsible for his actions and could die for making mistakes. He is checked for his professional skills, mental and physical alertness every six months through rigorous tests. He may have to undergo a preflight medical and a breathalyzer test prior to a flight. A pilot has to work 24 X 7 despite inclement weather and adversity. He cannot escape from his aircraft in an emergency- he has no pending files and every decision has to be prompt and correct. Unlike an MP he cannot adjourn a flight or break tables and chairs and throw tantrums at fellow colleagues .He cannot plunder crores of public money and remain unaccountable.
An MP in India requires no breathalyzer tests, no academic qualifications, no professional skills or medical tests and can get away scot free even with a criminal back ground. And to top it all Wahab is a Non Resident Indian - he does not even reside in India and hence, despite being a multimillionaire, does not pay a penny in taxes. And yet he travels at the expense of the taxpaying public!
A pilot may be a "glorified driver", just as an engineer is a "glorified mechanic" and a surgeon a "glorified butcher”. But MP’s like Wahab who blatantly misuse official privileges and cheat the system are “glorified robbers”.

The official spokesman of government owned Air India, Mr Jitender Bharagava, an obvious lackey of politicians himself and well known for his biased view on pilots,has already prematurely commented on the issue saying that " the customer is always right". Well, Mr Bhargava , the 9/11 hijackers were also "customers" and we all know how "right" they were, don't we ?

[Captain_djaffar]

wow,thats well written jetsreams,is it from a newspaper?

[FrequentSLF]

Being travelling in India for the past few years. Once in Ranchi a politician after landing was arguing with the FA and blocking the exit to all passengers. Being just behind him I told that if he did not mind let me get out of the a/c since I did not care about his issues with the crew, he did not reply. I once again said the same to him and he let me pass. At the luggage collection he told me that I do not know how things are in India and that in future I should be more polite :ugh::ugh: and he left because the usual crowd wating for him...

FrequentSLF

[cupoftea]

"
It takes an Indian airline pilot almost 5 to 10 years of rigorous training, thousands of hours of experience, with a minimum passing score of 80 percent in numerous aviation subjects and various practical tests to qualify as a commander of an aircraft. He is solely responsible for a machine worth millions of dollars and numerous human lives. Every action he takes is recorded in a data recorder or a black box - no other job in the world requires a person to be more accountable. He is directly responsible for his actions and could die for making mistakes. He is checked for his professional skills, mental and physical alertness every six months through rigorous tests. He may have to undergo a preflight medical and a breathalyzer test prior to a flight. A pilot has to work 24 X 7 despite inclement weather and adversity. He cannot escape from his aircraft in an emergency- he has no pending files and every decision has to be prompt and correct"

Gee, I feel a lot a better about myself after reading this explanation of my daily efforts .......or does it only apply to indian pilots ? :confused:

[beachbumflyer]

Is India really a democracy? Give me break.:rolleyes:

[daelight]

Indeed it is .. as much of a democracy as say ... USA or EU countries, perhaps? In the context of VIP / politicians / (list wealthy people here) that is.

Getting back on topic ...

The pilot should be commended for his actions. Although the exact reasons for him ejecting said passenger would be interesting to know. In other countries this person would be interviewed by police and depending on the severity of the incident, brought before a judge. This politician should issue an apology if he has any credibility at all.

But then.. do politicians have any credibility ?

[Chuck Ellsworth]

But then.. do politicians have any credibility ?

If they did they would lie about it.

[joehunt]

From my experience of flying 3rd world MP's around, no scheduled, was this. The more important they thought they were, the less punctual they turned out to be.

Non elected MP's were treated with more respect and they had to be handled with extreme care. The same respect I would treat a dangerous snake.

[Old Fella]

Just would like Jetstreams to know that Indian politicians do not have the sole ownership of being unaccountable and not always well qualified for the position they hold. We have had some "doosies" here in Australia where, with the present incumbents, the primary prerequisite is to have been a former union 'heavy'.

[notmyC150v2]

Old Fella,

the primary prerequisite is to have been a former union 'heavy'

Get over yourself will you. Not even the Liberals believed that rubbish when they were saying it during the election campaign. Just because one has worked for a union or represented one at some stage, does not make them a Union Heavy. :hmm:

I did an internship at a Union during my degree. Does that make me a union heavy?

And by the way, when working in a union you are dealing with negotiations, politics (internal and external), finance, law and social policy on a daily basis. Could you please indicate which of these is a poor precursor to a career in politics? :ugh::ugh::ugh:

[Fliegenmong]

Not only that, the opposition have ex union heavies that have infiltrated the party also, Brendan is an ex AMA president is he not? The AMA are a UNION of like minded people are they not?:rolleyes:

too much use of is he not, are they not, have I not? I think not:}

(I am NOT a union heavy);)

[Old Fella]

I seem to have touched on a few raw nerves with notmyC150v2 and Fliegenmong. Sure, Brendan Nelson is a former AMA President and also a former ALP voter. But, just what has that to do with my comment. He is only one, not 70% of the front bench as is the case in the ALP. Not so balanced when it is considered that only around 20% of the workforce are members of a union.

Also, neither of you would wish to recall former PM Bob Hawke commenting that "pilots are only glorified bus drivers" during the pilot strikes during the late 1980's.

However, all political parties have their share of "unaccountable" members. It is just part of political life, so I think we each know who needs to "get over yourself". :ok:

[jetsreams]

No capt jaffar.I wrote the post myself

[captjns]

Always remember… it doesn’t not make a difference which democratic country you are in. Everyone is equal, and shall be treated equally. Oh… there is just one little caveat… some individuals, especially the beautiful people are a little more equal than us commoners.:{:ugh:;)

[Max Stryker]

Just to add a little fuel to the fire: recently, a Croatian mp on a CTN flight asked an FA for a specific newspaper, which he couldn't get, since he was flying economy class, promptly insulted her, started yelling and threatening. He was calmed down and the flight went on to it's destination, only for this asshole to switch his mobile phone on as soon as he could get a signal, and phone the general manager of the company, who just happened to be a personal friend.

Bottom line: the entire crew had to line up and apologize, under threat of being fired.

Frack that, I would've split his skull open and happily handed myself over to the authorities.:}

[captat]

Jetstreams !! I liked the way you described a pilot !!! All i have to say is it made me feel gr8 :ok:

[VAFFPAX]

Well done to the pilot. I can't stand pax with an attitude problem; they make life hell on-board. And I'm SLF myself...

S.

[llondel]

Respect has to be earned, it sounds like some of these politicians need to learn that.

As for flying and bus driving, I thought most of the job was fairly routine, it's just that when you're on finals and the engines don't respond, or the wheels won't come down, or a windscreen blows out, or all the engines stop, or a bird tries to stow away in an engine, you get to really earn the money. Driving a bus doesn't quite have the same potential, somehow.

[Basil]

In the eighties in The Gulf, and no reason to suspect things have changed, Sheikh Al Shagalott, and his sidekick, Mustapha :mad: would stand by their limos a few yards away until STD + 10 or so.
They'd then climb aboard (the limos) and be driven to the aircraft.
Certainly showed everyone how important they were.


p.s. STD refers to Scheduled Time of Departure , not the venereal condition of the aforementioned 'VIPs'.

[Fokkerwokker]

Nice one Basil!!!:ok:

Were we together on that trip?

:}

[hawker750]

Nice thing about owning your own airline is that you can tell passengers when they are not welcome on your aircraft. When they kick up hell and ask to speak to the CEO/Owner/Boss you just say "you are". Only done it a couple of times on the last 30 years, but it feels great when you do it. (down side is that you generally do not get paid for that charter!)

[Basil]

Fokkerwokker,
What all of them? :}

[Basil-Fawlty]

The article written about the pilot by Jet streams, rather reminds me of an Indian Moves were tears, sadness, love, death and revenge involve in the making, Not necessarily in that order! Most professional pilots do not take an offence to the term Glorified Driver. BUT they are supper drivers though.
Cheers
Safe and happy flying to all from Cybil,manuel and polly!:ok:
BF

[captat]

I belive that the pilot has won the case against the MP and Mr Wahab(the MP) is banned from flying with Air India on the grounds of illegal(unauthorized) entry into the cockpit.. Cheers to all and Happy Landings:ok:

[Aceninja]

Hats off to Jetstream for bringing this article to light! Indian MPs are notorious for being crooks, if you need any assurance you just need to pick up any Indian newspaper.....

[Doors to Automatic]

I wonder if Mr Wahab is a distant relative of Ed Balls? :p

[VAFFPAX]

Bravo! Well done and congrats to the captain.

S.

[av8r76]

Well, the latest news snippets suggest the MP is backing of due to lack of support from his political cronies.

Note to MPs: When you screw the country in the many little and big ways, do it behind closed doors, not in the full view of the public.

[Norks]

"Indian MPs are notorious for being crooks" - Just Indian MPs?

[4:th of july]

Very well written by jetstreams.
I kind of lost faith in politicians from India after the bribery scandal we had in Sweden years ago involving the Bofors sell of arms to the Indian army. The Indian politicians were outraged!!. Not by the bribing itself but by not being on the payroll by Bofors....:ok:

[proxus]

I suppose a one way of explaining the captains action of why he threw him offboard is: "I believed that the said person would not follow orders given by the crew in case of emergency, so I had to disembark him"

I would guess that it would be sufficient, wouldn't you think ?

Brg's

Proxus