Air India co-pilot beats up captain inside cockpit

[alp227]

Source: Times of India

NEW DELHI: Amid rising aviation safety concerns over pilots' mental health, an Air India aircraft's cockpit witnessed some tense scenes between the captain and his deputy at Jaipur on Sunday evening just before the Airbus A-320 was to take off for Delhi. While numerous airline sources said that the co-pilot abused and beat up the commander, an AI spokesman said that "there was an argument between the two and nothing more."

The heated scenes were witnessed when AI 611 was getting ready to fly for Delhi. "The commander told his co-pilot to take down critical take off figures for the flight. This involves writing critical facts like number of passengers on board, take off weight and fuel uptake on a small paper card (trim sheet) that is displayed in front of the pilots for the entire duration of the flight. The co-pilot took offence at this and reportedly beat up the captain," said a source.

"In the larger interest of the airline", the commander decided to go ahead with the flight and flew to Delhi. The normal procedure would have been to report this incident in Jaipur but that would have led to the flight being cancelled and passengers being left stranded. On landing here, the captain is learnt to have made a log entry with AI movement control after which he flew to his home base, Mumbai.

Read more: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Air-India-co-pilot-beats-up-captain-inside-cockpit/articleshow/46818054.cms

[appalachiablue]

1. Is there something about the Airbus A-320 that's starting to drive pilots beserk?

[SoapBox]

2. ...you beat me to it.

[appalachiablue]

3. Maybe some chemical leak or toxin causing neurological issues or insanity?

[freshwest]

5. Long hours at low pay? Such as were in the Michaels Moore's Capitalism: A Love Story flick?

It's Truly Terrifying That Some Pilots Earn Near Minimum Wage



By Emily Cohn - 02/12/2014

The next time you're flying in an airplane consider this: The person operating the aircraft might not be making much more than the person who made the Egg McMuffin you ate for breakfast.

That's right. According to the Wall Street Journal, new airline pilots rank among the lowest-paid workers in the country, with some regional pilots earning as little as $15,000 per year.

That's horrifying for a number of obvious reasons. For one, $15,000 -- or even $22,400 a year, the starting salary for pilots at 14 regional airlines -- is lower than the federal poverty line for a family of four in the U.S.

It's also startling because of the extraordinary price of becoming a pilot in the first place. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, airline pilots usually need a bachelor's degree, a pilot's license, and certification that requires hundreds of hours of flight training. According to Bloomberg Businessweek, the cost of training flights alone can set you back more than $100,000...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/12/pilots-minimum-wage_n_4775989.html

Article details health issues that involve what likely was going on in the cockpit. Definitely could cause some neurological issues. Maybe the co-pilot was on his last nerve or could be he was just a jerk. I go with the former, though.

Just sayin'

[appalachiablue]

14. The reality of very low pay for pilots that Michael Moore brought out in his film I'm aware of,

also the financial obligation of pilots to their employers. Aviation expert and journalist, Miles O'Brien on CNN last week also stressed the long hours, pressure, limited salaries and how pilots owe major debt to their airline employers for training and instruction. He also said this is a major reason why they aren't fired, the airlines wouldn't get their money back for the instruction they provided. He's one of the few in the media I've seen who raises these important issues. Another guest on the program with him tried to attribute the cost cutting and budget operations to the public who demands low, $99 fares, rather than the airline industry wanting more money or uninformed government regulators. The fact that corporations are driven by the desire for more profit to satisfy CEOs salaries and stock shareholders doesn't surprise me.

In one of several recent OPs here on the Germanwings-Luftansa crash, I was about the only commenter who raised these considerations and how the co-pilot, Anders Brevik mentioned that he was worried about finances and feared he would not be promoted to captain according to his girlfriend. The economics of the industry and now the admission by the government aviation oversight authority that they did not have his medical information have been left out of much of the discussion which has focused on the pilots health, sickness and violent behavior. The general public would benefit from knowing other factors which have a bearing on this tragic event.

[treestar]

11. Seriously!

They are starting to get more worrisome than terrorists!

[wordpix]

4. the "cockpit witnessed some tense scenes" ???

and no doubt the cockpit reported what it had seen..

[longship]

6. Just in case?

Sorry. Bad joke.

But what the fuck...

[msongs]

7. yeah but if we give pilots a raise the CEOs and shareholders might take a tiny cut in income nt

[jmowreader]

8. People really don't get this shit

They aren't paying jack shit because the CEOs and shareholders might take a tiny cut in income. You can deduct employee salaries from your corporation's taxes anyway.

They are paying jack shit because their sole purpose in life is to keep you so broke and dependent on your employer, your survival instinct will discourage - or prevent - you from telling your boss to go fuck himself. It costs money to bring a new employee into the company - far more, in many cases, than it would cost to pay someone what he or she is worth. This is also a prime mover in the quest to require seekers of even the most insignificant jobs to have college education. Put the guy on the edge of financial catastrophe, make sure he's got bills he can't discharge in bankruptcy, and he'll be a nice little compliant wage slave.

I believe this to be one of the major drivers in the corporate world's opposition to Obamacare - a law that features portability and the inability to deny coverage for pre-existing conditions as two of its top selling points. In the Good Old Days before the Kenyan Usurper took office, a worker married to someone with a chronic condition knew he could never get away from his shitty job because he would never get health insurance again. That's no longer the case. Thanks to Mr. We Know What's Good For You, now that the guy we've been fucking over all these years doesn't have that particular boat anchor tied around his ankle we have to start treating him better...and we really hate that.

[davidpdx]

9. I'm wondering if there is more to the story

Like maybe the commander was telling him to use numbers that were not accurate. The overloading of a flight could have major consequences including the plane crashing. This is similar to what happened with the Sewol ferry last year in South Korea. They overloaded the cargo by 3 X the limit and there were other problems as well that had to do with the structure of the ferry. If the commander had to make a choice between getting the flight off or getting his ass chewed, maybe he choose the former thinking nothing would happen.

It will be interesting to see if more comes out about this.

[cosmicone]

10. As an Indian-American, I can speculate on what happened

Air India is a government owned airline and thus political favoritism abounds.

The copilot was probably a minister's cousin or nephew and thought it was beneath him to take orders from the captain regardless of rank.

Nepotism is really really bad in India and it is pervasive everywhere except the military to a great extent.

There are instances where nurses refused to clean up patients -- ordering doctors to do so because the nurse was some high ranking official's kept woman.

I hope Modi changes this culture .. but it will take time.

[treestar]

12. Very interesting

competing ranking, with the societal ones and the work ones at odds.

[MosheFeingold]

13. I think you are right on.

I used to have a doctor neighbor who was very nice guy and very active in local Democrat politics, but still wed to the Indian caste system, such that he was extremely rude to those of people whose class he considered below him.

There is also the possibility of a Hindu vs. Muslim (or Muslim vs. Hindu).

Or just someone being an ass.

Speculation at this point, however.

[cosmicone]

15. I don't think it is caste or religion

In those cases, the co-pilot would be afraid of a reprimand.

In this case, it simply indicates that the copilot had a big daddy powerful guy protecting him so he has no worries.

[Blue_Tires]

16. More info:

http://www.airliners.net/aviation-forums/general_aviation/read.main/6364734/