Can’t rest, won’t fly

This one time the hour-and-a-half delay of an Air-India flight between Kolkata and London could not be blamed on the usual reasons - technical snag or traffic on the runway.
The aircraft did not take off on time, interestingly, because its commander insisted that rules laid down by the Director General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) be followed, sources said.
Captain Richard J Phillips, who is from the United Kingdom, refused to overlook the fact that the aircraft had only one curtained resting area for the crew instead of the mandatory two even after higher-ups told him to ignore the oversight, sources said.
“He said he wanted a co-pilot and not a tired pilot,” the source said. Phillips did not agree to the suggestion by a senior official, who called him, that he could use the curtained area while the Indian pilot slept in an open seat.
Finally, it was only after the only two passengers in the first class area were put on another flight and the area was converted into a section for the crew that the flight took off, the source said.
27/04/06 Naveeta S/Mumbai Mirror

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