Air India pilots, crew slug it out at 30,000 ft
 

From the Times of India:

NEW DELHI: The Maharaja witnessed his first in-flight Mughal-e-Azam at 30,000 feet above sea level on Saturday, as two members of the cabin
crew—one male and one female—slugged it out with the pilot and co-pilot.

Endangering the lives of 106 passengers and grossly violating safety norms, the airline staffers came to blows in the cockpit and galley of the Indian Airlines Airbus A-320 as the aircraft cruised over Pakistan en route to Delhi via Lucknow from Sharjah.

The cabin-vs-cockpit tiff originated on the ground in Sharjah itself and then turned into a full-blown fight once IC 884 took off soon after midnight.

The cabin crew alleged that pilots harassed a 24-year-old female colleague who later filed a molestation complaint against them with the cops after the flight landed in Delhi.

The pilots, on the other hand, accused a male flight purser of misconduct that seriously compromised flight safety, and said the accusation of molestation aimed to protect the complainant's purser friend—who has a commercial pilot licence (CPL)—from facing action.

No party denied that blows and abuses were exchanged as bewildered passengers looked on. Sources said that the female cabin crew member and the co-pilot sustained bruises.

Confirming the in-flight fight, Air India said it had ordered an inquiry and had grounded the staff members involved. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation has also ordered a probe.

There were unconfirmed reports that at one stage the cockpit was unmanned, as the crew was busy fighting outside. Things allegedly degenerated to the point where the captain threatened to divert the plane to Karachi, likening the situation, sources said, to a "hijack".

In Sharjah, the cabin crew went to meet Captain Ranbir Arora and co-pilot Aditya Chopra for the pre-flight briefing. Both sides give different versions of what happened after this.

The cabin crew lobby said that after the initial tension on the ground in Sharjah, when the woman crew member went into the cockpit, one of the pilots held her hand and then pushed her out of the cockpit.

"She hit the cockpit door with such force that she started bleeding. When Amit Khanna, the purser, saw her in this condition, he went to the cockpit to ask what was happening. At this point, the pilots got abusive and started a fight with him," said a representative of the IA cabin crew, who added that the actual fight took place on the Lucknow-Delhi segment.

Pilot sources claimed that despite his CPL, Khanna could not get a pilot's job due to the downturn.

"The airhostess had announced flying time from Sharjah to Lucknow as per the schedule, and not the actual one that the commander gives. After taking off, the pilot scolded the airhostess and then called Amit to the cockpit," said a source.

Khanna, the source added, entered the cockpit angrily and that's when the fight started. "He became abusive, and tempers ran high in the cockpit. Given the highly unsafe situation there, the commander said he would divert to Karachi, to which Amit retorted, 'Jahan le jaana hai, le jaao, is aircraft ko main bhi uda loonga (take it wherever you want to, I can also fly)'," a pilot representative said, adding that the fight occurred over Pakistan, while the plan was flying from Sharjah to Lucknow. The woman crew member, the source explained, got bruised when she entered the cockpit in the melee.

The cockpit was cleared, with pilots pushing out Amit and then locking the door. After that, the plane landed in Lucknow at around 4.30 am. "Amit then apologized to the pilots, and they took off for Delhi so that the flight wasn't delayed. He later got the woman crew member to level charges of molestation to avoid action for making a hostile entry into the cockpit," said a source speaking on behalf of the pilots.

The police are investigating the woman's complaint and have registered a case against the pilot and co-pilot. "There are several eyewitnesses and we are recording their statements," said joint CP (operations) Satyendra Garg. The police had the victim examined at Safdarjung Hospital, where her bruises were confirmed. A case was registered, among others, under Section 354 for outraging the modesty of a woman.

The DGCA is fuming at the gross violation of safety norms on IC 884. "The airline didn't even inform us of this incident in time. We're going to summon the crew members on Monday. This incident is shocking and we may need to take exemplary action," said a senior official.

A great plot for a bollywood movie. If only it wasn't so real!

Nice....It will be interesting to see how the witnesses testify. Sounds like the pilots were just getting the purser out of the flightdeck but why bother to have him come up in the first place.

Would have been interesting if there had been an expat flightcrew.

If it was an expat pilot involved he/she would have been fired in an instant without recourse. Rightly so too.

If it is Indian flight crew, well what can be done? They will all go out on strike, if AI dared disapline them.

This particular situation would not have happened with an expat crew.
I've flown with Indians, both flight deck and cabin crew. I've found them to be some of the best in the industry, but also some of the worst.
Indians tend to be very aggressive in general, the ones from Delhi in particular. Put the right mix in an aircraft and this is the result.

I nearly had a riot on board my Delhi flight, simply because Delhi was closed (fog) and we had to divert. I almost got attacked by some of the pax after landing in BOM.

It's not only in India, but more likely to happen there than anywhere else, IMHO.

Oh and, there is China as well...

Where I work, cabin crew entry is controlled; which is to say that a pilot must electronically unlock the door or electronically deny entry after the correct entry code was pushed. Neither the purser nor any cabin crew could just barge into the cockpit without invitation. :ooh:

The guys at the pointy end must have learned from the malaysian indian pariah aka lato g-stringh! Ruckus ala Dickens bar. What a disgrace!

Where I work, we don't deny our cabin crew entry into the cockpit.

Totally unprofessional, I'm shocked reading this. Do these crews know of something called stress management and resolution conflict? ...obviously not.

People like this quite simply don't deserve to be crew, when endangering passengers and the a/c.

Lets hope they get what they deserve! :=

cabin crew entry is controlled. the article says the airhostess was pushed against the door when the purser barged into the cockpit. now suppose cabin crew entry is controlled and she had gone in for a valid reason , there has to be a point where she would have had to come out. that is the point where the purser would have barged into the cockpit. and lets assume the airhostess is opening the door to come out and at that point the purser tries to barge into the cockpit (akin a hijacker) and he hit the door on the cabin crew:E


anyway times of india is known for spicing up stories....so lets take all of this with a pinch of salt...the real story may only be 20% of what is reported. but yes delhi people are pretty aggressive. the right mix and even when they talk it APPEARS as if they are fighting.

No Way Through
 

It's beginning to sound as if air safety will require the eliminating the cockpit-cabin door, fitting toilet, coffee machine and microwave in the cockpit and pilots boarding via an external door. Oh, and two-way a letter-box for necessary documentation to be passed from cockpit to cabin and vs.

Here's the BBC's take on it:

BBC NEWS | South Asia | India pilots in mid-air 'scuffle'

Assuming the altercation started in the cockpit - would the CVR identify the truth.

Too late for the CVR. They flew a good deal before they land.

You're barred!
 

If nothing happens by way of discipline from AI/Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation side, is it possible for EASA or an EU National Authority to place a ban on an individual(s) from commanding an acft in EU airspace? I know we've had lots of age related issues in this area (overfly and all that), but nothing to my mind relating to conduct of individuals.

Any aviation lawyers care to comment?

Tired crews maybe. Situations developing in the cabin. Intercrew conflict.....all builds up. Can people start to see why I was fairly positive in the United MIA recent en-route landing about the benefits of ending such a situation by landing early? I said it in that thread and here too- at 500mph, you must defuse such conflict. You cannot afford to have ongoing situations in the air, or seriously upsetting and playing on the pilot's mind. You never know when he may be called upon to deliver 110% to save all onboard, and at a moments notice. If that sounds melodramatic (as some implied), who would have thought a pilot taking an A320 into the air from laGuardia would so dramatically be required to dredge every bit of his piloting experience, and so overwhelmingly rapidly? These situations MUST not be allowed to develop in the air. Unfortunately they do, and sometimes it seems with the connivance of the airline, or just blank total indifference to such atmospheres. BA is no stranger to this!

Maybe it went something like this?

The High & The Mighty - clip 1

or perhaps it was all more like this?

The High & The Mighty - clip 2

Rainboe
 

According to Le Canard Enchaîné, France's leading political gossip rag, the first Concorde flight from CDG to the USA (IAD) had just such a situation.

Tension started when the captain refused to carry the co-pilot's wife, none other than his own ex-wife. The co-pilot then bought a full-fare ticket for her and she got to board. It then seems the cockpit duo refused to address each other except through the flight engineer, who had to repeat everything barked at him by the one to the other.

This is with a planeful of folks like the AF chair, transport minister and other VIPs onboard.

Fortunately, there were no emergencies of any kind along the way.

People are people.

That sounds more like a Monty Python comedy sketch! The one I feel sorry for there is the poor chap in the middle, the flight engineer. I bet he needed headache pills afterwards. Comedy aside, a very dangerous situation to be in.

Filter the Media article.....As someone mentioned,the truth would be probably 80% less dramatic.
SSCVR records last 2hrs of the Conversation in the Flight eck.
The Regulatory Authority & AI are both conducting Investigations.
regds
MEL.