Pilot Refuses To Take Off Without Favorite Lady Co-Pilot, Delays Air India Flight By Three Hours

Flight delays are commonplace nowadays and in most cases, the reasons behind these delays are justified. The causes usually include congestion, aircraft maintenance issues or simply, bad weather. However, for the 110 passengers who were onboard an Air India flight from Maldives to India on Wednesday, the reason behind a near three-hour delay was bizarre.

According to a report by the Times of India, the Air India flight AI 263 from Male, the capital of the Maldives, to the south Indian city of Thiruvananthapuram (also known as Trivandrum) was delayed by almost three hours after the chief pilot on board the plane insisted that he would only fly the plane if he would be accompanied by a certain female co-pilot. According to the report, the pilot had made the demand for this woman pilot to be rostered for flying with him a day before the scheduled flight was supposed to take off. However, the roster section of Air India told him they would not be able to meet his demand because the woman pilot was already scheduled to fly another flight bound to New Delhi.

According to a source from the Airline, the pilot threatened to report sick on Tuesday if the woman pilot was not rostered along with him, and eventually stuck to his word and did not report to work on Tuesday. He once again demanded that the woman pilot be rostered to fly with him the next day.

“The Roster section informed him that his demand can’t be met as the woman pilot was already scheduled for a Delhi flight. When the roster section did not oblige, he reported sick on Tuesday. But this morning when he turned up to operate the flight he again insisted for the same co-pilot, forcing the airline to arrange his favorite co-pilot,” the source told The Times of India.

With the pilot refusing to fly the aircraft without his favorite female co-pilot on Wednesday, the airline had no other choice but to bring her in — a procedure that took almost 2 hours. In the end, the flight which was supposed to take off at 7 a.m. local time finally took off at around 9:13 a.m. and reached its destination almost three hours late.

In the midst of the confusion, the pilot also complained of high blood pressure and was administered treatment. It remains unclear how the pilot was allowed to fly the plane even after he complained of medical issues. According to reports, the pilot behind this bizarre request had resigned from the Airline just a week ago and was serving a six-month notice period.

Earlier today, senior Air India officials confirmed that the company is taking action against the errant pilot. In a statement issued to the press, Air India chairman and managing director Ashwani Lohani said the following.

“On the issue of the recent incident on (Air India flight) AI 263 from Chennai to Male via Thiruvananthapuram where the pilot refused to fly without a particular co-pilot, the airline has taken a strong view on the matter and has ordered an immediate inquiry into it. The airline has suffered enough because of such stray and repeated cases of indiscipline. I have directed all such cases be brought to my notice immediately and strict action to be taken.”

This is not the first time we have heard of bizarre incidents being reported from Air India flights. The Airline was in the news last year, as well, when two pilots employed by the airline got into a fist fight just before they were supposed to take off. Another Air India pilot was grounded after he got into an argument with a ground staff and the duo fought each other inside the cockpit.

[Image By Rick Schlamp – originally posted to Flickr as Air India VT-ALD “Gujarat”, CC BY-SA 2.0/Wikimedia Commons]