Security officials surround aircraft; threaten to arrest passengers

[bond737]

Thiruvananthapuram: Security officials surrounded an Air India Express flight that landed in Thiruvananthapuram airport Friday morning after passengers protesting against the airline's decision not to fly them to Kochi allegedly entered the cockpit.

The security officials surrounded the aircraft after the pilot messaged air traffic control that passengers are trying to hijack the aircraft.

The AI Express flight bound to Kochi from Abudhabi was taken to Thiruvananthapuram Friday because of bad weather conditions in Cochin International Airport, Nedumbassery. According to passengers the airline had promised them that they will be taken to Cochin once the weather improves but this was not honoured.

According to passengers the airline crew asked them to find their own arrangement to reach Cochin.

Manorama Online | Security officials surround aircraft; threaten to arrest passengers

[blackbirdsr72]

Action likely against AI Pilot

Action will be taken against the pilot who pressed the hijack alarm which alerted almost all airports in the country.Airport officials who made a preliminary inquiry admitted that the pilot overshot his brief.

Trouble began for the passengers of Abu Dhabi-Kochi flight (flight no 4422) after it was diverted to Thiruvananthapuram due to bad weather in Kochi.

Landed at Thiruvannahtpauram airport at 6.30am passengers were promised to fly back to Kochi once the weather is cleared.
"After three hours of wait we were told to go to Kochi by road. Air-condition was switched off and we weren't given water or food. Then we refused to vacate the plane," one of the passengers complained.
According to passengers the flight which was already three hours late was diverted to Thiruvananthapuram without informing them. Though the Air India authorities wanted to arrest some of the passengers police refused to do this.

"The issue has been settled amicably. We will ask the Airport Authority of India to conduct a detailed investigation," said state home minister Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan

Hijack drama ends, action likely against AI pilot - Yahoo! News India

[captjns]

Can it be confirmed if the captain deserted the crew and passengers? Was the cabin crew left alone to their own design?

I watched the event on TV yesterday morning. The accounts of the passengers via mobile phone seemed to be quite rational and coherent.

[Wannabe Flyer]

Seems to be overblown. Typical impatient mentality combined with AI ground staff lethargy that resulted in a manageable situation becoming a bit of a scare.

That said nothing gives them an excuse in this day and age to barge into the cockpit, but then considering it was a LoCo from the middle east to Kochi would not expect to find the most educated and aware people on board.

[rsoman]

Wannabe Flyer
but then considering it was a LoCo from the middle east to Kochi would not expect to find the most educated and aware people on board
*********

A typical ill informed arrogant "I am superior" type comment which you hear from ignorants all over the place. about any flight to the subcontinent.......


You may interestingly find that many of these people you are rubbishing have more more qualifications than you and many others of the same mentality ever will have........Operating a plane in the front or in the back does not mean that you automatically become more superior than everyone else.........

One of the reasons why Indian LoCos like AIX or Indigo is becoming so successful is because now the guy who is travelling in them (and he/she by the way is also ensuring you get our paypacket on time ,,,,) would gladly pay AIX or AI ther hard earned money rather than putting up with the stuck up conceited service of some crew (luckily not all) of the MEB3 group and many other "national" carriers who mildly put seem to suffer from an "overestimation of their own worth" (the words in quotes --- due acknowlegemet to Arthur Hailey in "Strong Medicine")


Do respect people for their dignity of labour my friend......


I am not condoning the act of barging into the cockpit any more than you do........but most of the people- even in your wonder kingdom wherever it is is - are not aware about things like FDTL expiry or even how dangerous landing in bad weather can be ......A slippery runway like Kochi can be dangerous .... as experienced by a GF A320 not too long ago whch had a rather longer than scheduled R& R break over there after a recent mis adventure!!!

A few years back, Air India had put advertisements in major dailies explaining why the diversions had to take place, issues with FDTL etc. I think they should do it once again.......


**********

Thank You - From a regular pax on a "LoCo from the middle east to Kochi "

[ironbutt57]

Though the Air India authorities wanted to arrest some of the passengers police refused to do this.


been there done that passengers refusing to disembark constitutes unlaw interference....what's wrong with the cops there/? poorly trained in aviation security...had to threaten evacuation before the cops would act...

[captjns]

Without hear say or opinions, can anyone verify if the Captain tried to difuse the situation before it had escelated?

[Victor Inox]

I believe that this is not the first time that AI/IX pull this kind of stunt. It makes one wonder why

a) people still fly with AI/IX
b) AI/IX still cannot get pax from A to B as per their contracts (tickets).

[blackbirdsr72]

a) people still fly with AI/IX

Simple Reasons..,

1. AI has got the Connectivity from kerala to Middleeast than any other carriers....

2. AI has the got the Lowest Fares than any airline in these sectors...!!!

Now regarding the attitude of AI, 70% of the services of Air India express is from the 3 Airports of Kerala. If you calculate Mangalore which is in the border of kerala/karnataka then it goes to 80-85%... Also a huge chunk of AI (Not Express) revenue comes from this part. So its their responsibility to take care of the revenue making sectors. It might be wrong from the part of the Travellers/pax to misbehave or entering into the cockpit but at the same time the captain has the responsibility to be transparent and helpful to the pax as well. Rather than creating the situation to explode she should have handled the situation with more maturity.

Please dont forget the fact that the flight was delayed by 3 hours before departure from Abudhabi iself and the passengers have to spent 14-16 hours in the flight without sufficient food or water..... Pregnant women to 6 months old were in the suffered....... so when the captain asked the Pax to go to their destination by road/bus since her duty time was over, eventhough we know the FDTL issues a common man doesnt understand that and he will treat it as arrogance to the extreme....

From many years AI 's attitude is the same and successive governments pump in money from the taxpayers pocket to bailout this white elephant. At least if the government sells 50% of the Physical assets Air India holds including offices in the Prime part of cities they can allocate 10000- 15000 crores for the bail out.At least taxpayers money would have been safe.....

[GE90-115B]

BlackBird72 well put.

The commander as much responsibility she had for the aircraft safety must also take in consideration the passenger hassle. You cannot explain a common man on FDTL. Its always best to put yourself (ALSO) in PAX shoes when making such an decision.

[masalama]

PA.

These ( diversions, emergencies, delays , technical return to bay etc) are perfect examples of testing a captain's management skills and can be the difference between an inconvenienced ,manageable passenger and a disruptive, aggressive passenger.

The Public address(PA) is more than a hello / thank you announcement . It is a major tool in calming the frayed nerves of your passengers. An honest, open PA explaining the situation in as simple terms as you can explaining the technical/ safety ramifications of the delay keeping in mind the average understanding of the terms and truly being sorry for the inconvenience they(PAX) have to undergo goes a long way and believe me, ask your Cabin crew what they think about your PA.

It has made the difference many a time in my personal experience over the diversions, delays and technical turn-backs that I have done. Understand your passenger demographic , know how they think and what they understand , try communicating with them than just talking at them. You will still get the odd resentful/obnoxious one but it's more a grumble than a collective revolution in the back .

Indian fliers are difficult to deal with, you'll have a first flight passenger who has no clue about the rules/etiquette of flying seated next to the high flying business tycoon who flies business class all around the world to the classic grumblers etc. But the challenge of being a good captain is to fly safely and also find time to address your passengers and convey the message across thoughtfully . I once had a lady telling the crew ," The captain is lying , my cousin says there's no fog in &^%$pur" , yes maybe not at his home , but the airport is 25 kms away in the middle of nowhere duh. But, no use getting angry or flustered , get on with the job of communicating regardless.....

Now, that said, what we also need is support from the airline once we get back to parking at the bay. A good airline is ready with a plan before the aircraft gets on the bay, immediately addresses the needs of passengers (missed connections, offloading,refreshments etc.) and co-ordinates well with the captain and other agencies to get the aircraft back in the air. I've been lucky to have the support of the excellent ground staff of Jet Airways( I work for their subsidiary) all over the country but the same might not be the case of Air India.

These instances damage the airline's reputation and winning back the trust of your passenger is very difficult , therefore the great need for all parties concerned ( Pilots, cabin crew, ground staff,management) to be working together to cater to the needs of your salary-givers( passengers).

Happy flying and masalama.

[Victor Inox]

2. AI has the got the Lowest Fares than any airline in these sectors...!!!

Basic truth: If you pay almost nothing for a flight, you can't expect to get much in return. But you should get what you paid for: a flight from A to B as described on your ticket.

[billboard]

Need to be more objective.

I agree with all the arguments in favor of dealing with the passengers in a caring manner. After all this is a service industry. However, i am also in favor of drawing some solid lines which must never me crossed. Entering a cockpit with an intention to intimidate a pilot into operating a flight is in my opinion unlawful interference. Technically the pilot did her job. We have to be more objective about this.

Lets now visit the question of diffusing the situation. What if, while trying to diffuse the situation, the situation had instead escalated? What if some of the passengers(one of whom allegedly issued a threat to kill the commander) had forced the pilot to T/O and operate in dangerous conditions? Some of us would then have faulted the pilot for not raising an alarm at the first sign of trouble. Better be safe than sorry.

The passengers have a right to know certain things about the flight. Masalama's words on the appropriate use of the PA is exactly what crossed my mind when i first heard about this incident. I would be interested to know whether the passengers were explicitly informed that FDTLs are a legal requirement. If yes, then the airline should back the pilot.

I do condemn the behavior of the airline management for not making better arrangements for the passengers. But then market forces will make sure than AI(or Indian taxpayers?!!) will have to pay a price for that.

Usually, even somebody who normally does not posses a good civic sense tries to be decent at the airports. There must be a reason for that. By tolerating unruly behavior we are welcoming rowdiness into Aviation. Do we want that to happen?

[blackbirdsr72]

Technically the pilot did her job.

The whole situation was out of control Because the Captain, who had exceeded her flight duty time soon after landing, allegedly told the passengers that they would have to travel to Kochi on their own. The fracas then followed eventually culminated in the Captain telling the ATC over R/T that there was a hijack like situation aboard, though the transponder button She had pressed was 7700 indicator of ‘Emergency’.

The Anti-Hijacking Act, 1982 (65 OF 1982), clearly indicts the Captain who deliberately told the ATC man that the situation was hijack like.

This is howthe Act defines a Hijack(Chapter II -3):

Whoever on board an aircraft in flight,unlawfully, by force or threat of force or by any other form of intimidation,seizes or exercises control of that aircraft, commits the offence of hijackingof such aircraft.
That means, only an aircraft in flight can be hijacked.

And what isa flight?
See the next paragraph of the Act:

“an aircraft shall be deemed to be in flightat any time from the moment when all its external doors are closed followingembarkation until the moment when any such door is opened for disembarkation..”

According to airport officials, some of the aircraft’s passengers also alighted the aircraft and stood around it while waiting for the flight to take off.So the doors of the plane were opened already for disembarkation.

A ceased flight and a nonexistent hijacking. So there never was a case against the six passengers the Pilot named in her complaint. And there never was any need for the Police to question them.

And the ATC people also can never be blamed. Because the Commander of the aircraft had uttered the word hijack while talking with them over R/T, they had absolutely no choice but to initiate all the actions assuming that the aircraft had already been hijacked (Directive 36.7.2 Operations Manual of AICL, Issue 1, 24.04.2012) –even if they had seen from the tower that the doors of the craft already wereo pened and some passengers had disembarked.

If therestill is a case, it ought to be charged against only one person- The PIC of AirIndia Express flight 4422.

By tolerating unruly behavior we are welcoming rowdiness into Aviation. Do we
want that to happen

?

You cannot askthe Best people in the world to Fly.. Nor you can be selective on passengers...There will be all class people travelling on Board. Its the Management ability that counts.. Rather than aggrevating the situation if they have managed to
arrange some refreshments or Travel Arrangements will this incident have escalated...???

Then the otherside of the above is "will these passengers do the same thing if they are flying from Kochi-Abudhabi rather than Abudhabi-kochi...? Never they will dare to do because of the laws in UAE..... so Its the Indian Nature to become Paper Tigers when they are in Homeland.....

But again my absolute feeling is Capt Rupali with an experience of more than 15Years should have handled the situation with much more maturity. Please dont be offended to the views.. Its what I feel to share.

[billboard]

Given below are some excerpts from the The Anti-Hijacking Act, 1982.

WHEREAS a Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft was, on the 16th day of December, 1970, signed at The Hague;

AND WHEREAS it is expedient that India should accede to the said Convention and make provisions for giving effect thereto and for matters connected there with

The act was passed in order to bring the above-mentioned convention into force within India. I agree that what happened at Kochi cannot be called "hijacking" in its strict legal sense. But then the Commander used the term "hijack like." As per the text of the Act, "intimidation" can be taken to constitute hijacking. Intimidation was allegedly used but the aircraft was not in flight hence the "like." We have to follow the law in its letter and spirit. Should we penalize the pilot for the failure of the convention to foresee a situation where unlawful seizure of an aircraft is initiated with the doors open? "Hijack" is just a specialized term that IMO does not cover all the actions fit to be classified as unlawful seizure.

In any case "Intimidation", whether taking place in-flight or not, itself is a crime.

If one agrees with the argument i have given above, then the text of the Act quoted below should, IMO, seal the case in the pilot's favor.

No suit, prosecution or other legal proceeding shall lie against any person for anything which is in good faith done or intended to be done in pursuance of the provisions of this Act.

One can argue that the situation had not yet deteriorated to hijack like. Still if in the judgement of the commander there was reasonable threat of the situation turning "Hijack like", she did well by taking precautions. She could have done better by squawking the right code though.
_________________________________________________________

The whole situation was out of control Because the Captain, who had exceeded her flight duty time soon after landing, allegedly told the passengers that they would have to travel to Kochi on their own.

I don't think the pilot takes a call on what amenities are to be provided to passengers in such a situation. I hold the management guilty. They make policies on these matters. If the pilot did not co-operate in the execution of any such policy then there may be some questions to be asked of her. Otherwise, i don't see what she could have done other than ensure proper dissemination of information and maybe push the cabin crew a bit to go that extra mile to help the passengers.

Never they will dare to do because of the laws in UAE..... so Its the Indian Nature to become Paper Tigers when they are in Homeland.....

And that is what we should not tolerate. We have well drafted laws in India too. Enforcement is the key. If we tolerate people barging into cockpits today then we will end up emboldening these rowdies . Someday it could lead to a real hijack situation. What would we tell Capt. Waghmare then?

[av8r76]

This is a classic case of shooting the messenger. The decision to transport the pax by road is not a captains decision but the commercial departments. I can bet all I am worth that the flight crew were not consulted before this decision was made. The captain either took it upon herself or was requested by the ground staff to make this announcement assuming that the pax would accept that decision based on her perceived authority.
Unfortunately, as seen in this case and numerous cases where I as well as my colleagues have been thrust into such situations, the pax really don't care about who has made this decision. As far as they are concerned, the cabin and flight crew represent the company at that moment and are directly responsible for their well being and assurance that they will reach their destination in the mode of travel they paid for. Anyone who has worked in a loco in India knows this is farthest from the truth.
I personally have been threatened with physical assault due to the inability of my airline to resolve fdtl, technical,commercial etc issues concerning the flight operations of their own airline. What is most disconcerting is the lack of information that is passed on to the crew concerning situations such as this. The crew are left on their own to handle justifiably irate pax with no authority to decide further course of action.
Retarded comments like 'action will be taken' reek of babudom language and only drag the whole industry down into the filth that is burdensome bureaucracy. I empathize with both the pax and the crew in this situation and lay the blame squarely on the whole process of handling such situations of weather/technical/commercial delays which are beyond the control of the flight crew.
I am sure the captain knows how to use the cut and paste mode on her PC and can do a marvelous job of doing that with the myriad of rules and regs which we all have to deal with at some point in our careers. But to preach regs on this forum without realising the pressure and helplessness the crew is subjected to in a high stress situation at the end of a very long duty day is facetious at best.

[Skyblade]

PA.

Nicely put..

[thegrapevine]

As mentioned by one of the members in an earlier post that the guys would have just kept mum, had it been a kochi-abu dhabi leg instead of abu dhabi -kochi leg, Not wanting to offend anyone,but i have noticed on many flights, the moment we touch down and the people realise that they are in their own country(kerala) their lungis start to go up, and once i was told by a mallu friend that the moment lungis start to move up its time for action!!..
I would like to add that had it been any other airline like emirates, etihad, gulf or anyother,i am sure the lungis would have stayed down... Why do people have this attitude towards Air India, that they can do anything and get away with it.. I have known of passengers misbehaving with cabin crew and not following simple instructions, but the same set of passengers when travelling by some other airlines when are told by the firangi cabin crew to behave and keep shut, they just turn into the most humble and well behaved pax, but the moment our AI cabin crew asks them for something, they are always ready for arguements, and mobiles are flashed and videos are made and we are constantly threatened the media gets involved and a big issue is made out of it!
I totally support the captain of this AIX flight, and she absolutely did the right thing, i would have done the same and even in future if faced with such a situation i would still take the most strict action against someone, who is not authorized gets or even tries to get close to the cockpit. There are places in this world where just using certain words at the airport or during a flight would land you into grave trouble, and here we are defending people who tried to get into the cockpit??
For the passengers, i would just like to sympathize with them at the same timeb i think that they should have waited until they were out of the A/C and clear of the restricted area and then they should have protested..

[Wannabe Flyer]

Rosman

I do take back the educated comment or rather lack of educated comment on that prior statement. What I was probably implying was that education is one thing and civic sense is another. On these AIX flight typically the ones I have flown the people regardless of how educated they may seem, typically loose any sense sense of civiv sense or practicality.

That said even in this day and age an educated person should realize that an attempt to barge into the cockpit can have serious ramifications.

[VT-ASM]

I support the Captain. What she did was right. I think AI is being very lenient with the pax.
This same crowd will never complain no matter how badly they are treated/Abused or Humiliated in the 'great' gulf by the locals. They will dare not raise their voices there. They will never write to the authorities if they are made to work in inhuman conditions. They will never look into the eyes of a 15 year old local Arab if he blows cigarette smoke into their face.
This very crowd when in India, gets horns from God knows where and has the audacity to threaten the Captain with dire consequences. Not to mention the abuses piled on her Facebook account.
All this nonsensical behaviour of theirs is only for India and Indians(Non NRI's if I may add).
If tomorrow there is a war in the Gulf, These same folks will beg the Indian government to depute AI/IA to fly them out of the gulf and yet have the galls to complain about any deficiency in service.

My 2 cents.