New Delhi: DGCA suspends license of Indigo pilot for flying plane with tail support attached

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Thursday temporarily suspended the license of an Indigo pilot in connection with an incident that occurred in the last week of July.

The license of pilot Bharat Saini has been revoked for two months from July 24, 2019 after probing his role in the incident in which the Indigo ATR-72, VT-IYB, 6E-7201 Hyderabad to Vijaywada aircraft continued to operate with tail prop attached even after the Captain was informed of it by the Air Traffic Control (ATC).

"Whereas the investigation revealed that the flight crew were informed immediately after take-off by the ATC regarding the departure of aircraft with tail prop attached. However, the crew continued to destination instead of returning back to Hyderabad. This could have caused structural damage to the aircraft during flight," DGCA said in a letter.

The aviation authority said that a show-cause notice was issued to pilot on August 27 to explain in writing within 15 days as to "why the action should not be taken against Captain Bharat Saini for the decision taken by him to continue the flight to destination".

After reviewing the reply by the pilot, in which he agreed that landing back could have been a better decision.

"Therefore, in the exercise of the powers delegated under Clause (a) of Sub-Rule (3) of Rule 19 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937, read with Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation Notification No. S.O. 727 (E) of October 1994 the undersigned hereby suspends in public interest, the pilot license held by Bharat Saini, CPL-14380, for a period of two months from 24.07.2019 i.e. the date of the incident," it said.