Saturday, March 28, 2015

Hijack: Airlines ask pilots not to leave cockpit

New Delhi: Airlines are issuing circulars of caution to pilots in the wake of a reported incident on board a flight of one of the airlines recently when a few passengers apparently insisted on meeting the pilot over an alleged medical ailment afflicting one of the passengers and requested the cabin crew to ask the pilot to come out of the cockpit but the pilot apparently refused as per rules. After the Kandahar hijack incident in 1999, India had emphasised that access to cockpits must only be for authorised persons including the two pilots and authorised cabin crew.

Airlines have now warned their pilots not to leave the cockpit, citing the recent alleged incident. Alarm bells seem to have been rung after suspicion that a passenger was feigning illness and a group of three to four passengers some of whom claimed to be doctors were in fact trying to lure the pilot out of the cockpit.

Speculation is also rife that the alleged incident may have taken place on a flight of a carrier on the Delhi-London sector and that the passengers trying to meet the pilot were Pakistanis. This has aroused suspicions in security agencies on whether there could have been any intention to hijack the aircraft by luring the pilot out of the cockpit. One prominent airline issued a warning to pilots on Friday, mentioning the alleged incident on the flight of one of the airlines without going into specifics.
28/03/15 Sridhar Kumaraswami/Deccan Chronicle
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