Civil Aviation authorities has advised Air India to ensure that pilots and co-pilots are not paired in a way that they have a wide age gap. This comes after an earlier incident in 2017 revealed that an Air India flight from Abu Dhabi to Kochi landed in a drain as senior male pilot refused to follow suggestions of 30-year younger female co-pilot. The incident injured three passengers and the aircraft was severely damaged.
To avoid such incidents in future, the DGCA has advised Air India to ensure pilots and co-pilots do not have a wide age gap between them. “There is not just one reason behind an accident. In the report, we tried to go to the exact details and found that probable cause of accident was incorrect judgement taken by PIC (pilot-in-command). Heavy rain and reduced visibility were contributory factors,” said a Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) official told Hindustan Times.
According to DGCA report in 2017 incident, the co-pilot told her senior that she cannot see runway and asked him to go extremely slow. She also called for a ‘follow-me’ vehicle which is used to guide flight for landing in low visibility. However, there were no response from the PIC. The aircraft took a 90 metre early turn and entered into an open rain water drain. PIC applied throttle three times for aircraft to come out of the drain, but aircraft stuck in the drain. Co-pilot requested PIC not to apply throttle.
The report also highlighted that there was an age gap of over 30 years and difference of 13,000 hours of flight experience among both the pilots. “The airline is supposed to minimise the age gap between pilot and co-pilot and if pilot is not listening to the co-pilot, irrespective of the age gap, then it shows lack of training and also inefficiency of DGCA which must conduct an audit to find these loopholes,” said Mohan Ranganathan, an aviation safety expert.
Air India has welcomed the recommendations of the Civil aviation. “Our top management has taken note of the recommendations made by AAIB regarding the incident involving aircraft VT-AYB at Cochin International Airport on 04.09.2017. AAIB has made safety recommendations which are to be implemented by various agencies including DGCA, Cochin International Airport Limited, AAI and Air India Express. Out of the 10 safety recommendations, two relate to Air India Express and these shall be duly implemented,” said PG Prageesh, an Air India official.