[Tom Otley]

A strange and alarming story about the London to Mumbai flight on January 1, 2018

Jet grounds two senior pilots for fighting in cockpit of London-Mumbai flight

I suppose they propped the door open so it didn’t accidentally lock them out while they sorted out their differences, but….

[Flightlevel]

Sad for the airline and Captain that another pilot has no respect for their work or profession.
Await the safety board’s judgement ‘though it looks like a court martial offence.
Happy New year to Jet Airways and their pax!

[rferguson]

I read this and found it to be really concerning. Mainly because it isn’t the first incident like this with Indian airlines. There seems to be a total lack of Crew Resource Management among indian airlines which may or may not be related to cultural hierachy.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/travel_news/article-3027259/Air-India-pilots-removed-duty-alleged-fight-cockpit.html

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Cockpit-fight-AI-pilot-hits-engineer-over-inspection/articleshow/45926647.cms

http://english.manoramaonline.com/news/nation/2017/12/09/around-130-indian-pilots-caught-for-reporting-drunk-for-duty.html

This latest incident brings things to a whole new (and more dangerous) level if the claims that both pilots left the cockpit during the flight.

[stevescoots]

Yet another reason for me not to fly India based Airlines, maybe its just a perception but i have big concerns on proffesionality of both ground and aircrew with them having flown most of the Indian carriers a few years back

[K1ngston]

I have a simple adage when it comes to Indian Carriers …. NIML put simply “not in my lifetime”

[Tom Otley]

[quote quote=845027]I have a simple adage when it comes to Indian Carriers …. NIML put simply “not in my lifetime”
[/quote]

So how do you get around India – car?

Dangerous driving is the norm in India, home of the world’s most deadly roads

[K1ngston]

Fair question Tom, Its either P2P Sin to Del or Sin to Mum I will not travel internally and have managed to get away with it up until now

[Tom Otley]

Understood.

I’ve flown a fair bit round India, both for business and on family holidays, and some of the LCCs are excellent – We flew GoAir from Mumbai to Goa, for instance.

[canucklad]

I remember watching a documentary about driving in certain parts of India, where locals, devout in their religious beliefs don’t switch on their lights, believing that fate is fate and if it’s fate that they arrive safely at their destination then there is no need to switch on their headlights.

I’m rather envious, it would be fantastic to have total faith in fate !

[K1ngston]

Canucklad as fate would have it, they kept crashing into things but thats another story!!!

[stevescoots]

[quote quote=845059]I remember watching a documentary about driving in certain parts of India, where locals, devout in their religious beliefs don’t switch on their lights, believing that fate is fate and if it’s fate that they arrive safely at their destination then there is no need to switch on their headlights.
I’m rather envious, it would be fantastic to have total faith in fate !
[/quote]

I had this once, was being driven about 100 miles to Nagpur or Lucknow, forget which, through the jungle at night and the driver flatly refused to turn on his lights, only putting high beams on when he managed to see something coming towards us. After what seemed an eternity at of this the only way to get him to turn the lights on was to pay him! I asked my Indian hosts about it, expecting the “fate” answer…their reply was that its money, that in the driver’s mind lights use electricity and electricity costs money, same as charging extra if you want the AC on in the car

[capetonianm]

There is undoubtedly some faith at work in India.

I wrote this, years ago, whilst on a trip to that wonderful country :

We were travelling in one of India’s ubiquitous Hindustan Ambassadors, a 1930’s design which has barely changed over the years, and which, to misquote Henry Ford, is available in any shade of grey. The horn never stopped blaring as we wove our way past, or rather, through, the whirling maelstroms of ancient cars, rickshaws, unlit but garishly decorated lorries looming out of the dust and belching evil smelling smoke blacker than the surrounding night, cows, and suicidal pedestrians. The rule of the road is driving on the left. What this means is ‘drive on any part of the roadway which is left free’. The only order to Indian driving is chaos, the closest I have experienced being the dodgem cars at the funfair. Most vehicles have a sign on the back, the commonest being ‘Horn Please’, and ‘Keep Distance’. The constant hooting is not aggression, but a reflex more natural to Indian drivers than breathing. The miracle is that there are so few accidents – sadly those that do occur are usually serious. Overtaking, or just getting into any vehicle on the overcrowded roads, is simply an act of faith in God – there is no other way to explain it in a country where a two lane road contains four or five lanes of jousting traffic. Skill and judgement do not enter the equation. So few vehicles have tyres with visible tread that I wonder if somewhere there is a factory producing slicks for the Indian market. Lights are a rare luxury, the most important piece of equipment on any vehicle being a powerful and strident horn. When I once needed a really vicious horn for my car in Europe, I made a point of buying it in India.

In the large cities, most of the modern vehicles are locally produced versions of popular small Japanese models, but one sees the occasional Mercedes, usually with diplomatic numberplates, cruising serenely through the chaotically gyrating streams of traffic without a scratch on its immaculate gleaming paintwork. This proves that there is some divine force at work protecting the innocent and the foolish.

The first time I saw three people on a motor scooter, I gave a second glance. They looked happy and comfortable. Then I saw four. Not long after that I started counting. Up to now, I have seen three adults, two children, and a baby all perched, balanced, or hanging on to a scooter. I still look, but somehow can’t visualise this record of six being broken. No doubt, somewhere, not far away, there are seven people on a two wheeler. In the meantime, five doesn’t merit a turn of the head.

[EasternPedlar]

Each to his own, I suppose. I fly with an Indian carrier (AI / Jet / Indigo) many times a month, and draw comfort from their flight safety record. The credit probably goes to modern aircraft technology, which limits the impact of many pilot errors, but at the end of the day people continue to get to their destinations safely, reasonably punctually and in comfort. That’s what matters to me. Incidents like this one do of course cause concern, and I’m glad that these pilots have been sacked and have lost their licenses, but I’m not going to get too neurotic over it.

The vibrancy of the press in India leads to airline incidents getting wide publicity. I’m sure that lots of stuff happening with other (major) airlines simply does not get reported. I’m not suggesting that they overlook negligence, just that it does not make the press. And there’s more to this whole business than meets the eye. I also fly SQ a lot, and think that it’s a wonderful airline – but the JACDEC air safety index ranks SQ at 32/60!

[openfly]

……it was probably safer with them both out of the flight deck!!

[Tom Otley]

Not surprising, but they both lost their jobs

India’s Jet Airways fires pilots for ‘cockpit fight’

[Author]

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