Air India ’pee-gate’ case: Veteran pilots condemn airline action on crew of flight

The buzz around Air India's 'pee-gate’ case is growing day by day, as now a section of serving and retired pilots has strongly criticized the de-rostering of the Captain of the New York-New Delhi flight. The action against the Captain came as Campbell Wilson, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the TATA-owned Air India airline issued show-cause notices to one pilot and four crew members of the concerned flight and also de-rostered them till pending investigation.

The action of the airline is also seen in conformity with a complaint of a fellow passenger who slammed the Air India pilot as made the victim of the incident wait for 2 hours and then asked her to go back to her soiled seat.

The ex-pilots are pointing out that the airline is making the pilot and other crew members ‘scapegoat’ to cover the airline from the incident.

The statement from CEO Wilson shows that the airline was aware of the incident just a day after it occurred. “Upon receipt of the complaint on November 27, Air India acknowledged receipt and commenced engaging in correspondence with the affected passenger’s family on November 30," Wilson said in the statement.

"According to the laid down procedure, after every flight, the cabin crew in charge fills out a report of what happened in the cabin during the flight. It is read and counter-signed by the captain," Captain S S Panesar, ex-pilot and former director of flight safety and training of erstwhile Indian Airline said.

Sources from Air India confirm that, after the concerned flight landed in Delhi, the cabin crew filled out a detailed report about the incident, and the report was counter-signed by the Captain of the flight.

"If the cabin crew department and Air India did not read or react promptly to the report, how can they blame the captain now? De-rostering and giving the captain a show cause notice is absolutely unfair and ridiculous,” Captain Panesar added.

The fraternity of pilots strongly believes that if there was any problem regarding the actions of the pilot or the cabin crew, the action against them should have been initiated from 27 November and not when the issue came in the light of the media.

"The management was made aware of the incident by the crew via a written report on landing. The management could have asked for more details if the report was not clear. Instead, the airline tried to bury the issue by negotiating with passengers concerned," Captain Ajay Ahlawat, an air force veteran, said.

"When the matter was reported in the media and sensing negative press, the airline has now tried to blame the crew instead of accepting it themselves. It's like a pendulum that swung from inaction to overreaction. The actions of the offending passenger were shameful and disgusting, deserving of strong punishment. However, blaming the pilots for the inaction of the airline is professional lynching,” he added.

(With inputs from PTI)