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Pilots suspended for handing over control to air-hostesses for a 40-minute loo break:-

 

http://mumbaimirror.com/mumbai/cover-story/Pilots-suspended-for-handing-over-control-to-air-hostesses-for-a-40-minute-loo-break/articleshow/19847210.cms

 

Those flight attendants look quite tasty so I wonder ??

 

However an interesting comment on another website says:-

 

"The inside dope. F/o on toilet break. As per SOP one C/C called in but invited to take P2 seat. Shortly after second C/c walks in ,

incredibly offered the P1 seat. Capt standing and teaching them how to fly a A-321 at 33000 ft. F/O comes back from toilet and

all resume normal duties. Insiders say the F/O reported the matter to Flight Safety on arrival at DEL.Capt Soni and the two c/c are

under suspension."

 

MORE:-

 

http://www.avherald.com/h?article=461b7ada&opt=0

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Just as long as it wasn't PIA... now they're seriously frightening... Derry and co. may wish to comment..

 

I had to go around at MAN after a PIA 747 entered the runway without permission when I was about 300ft cleared to land. In the seventies when I was a First Officer flying an empty a/c the Capt let his hostie girlfriend into his seat. She had done it before and was quite good, however I expected the Capt to take his seat before landing, but he left her there and I basically landed the a/c. This particular a/c only had steering on the Capt's side so as we stopped on the runway, he got back in his seat. Not the smartest thing to do, but the Capt was an ex RAF WW11 Typhoon ground attack pilot so I suppose his risk threshold was a lot higher than mine.

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Approx 30 years ago I was aboard the Chinese national carrier (CAAC) sitting up front when one of the two pilots came out and went to the loo, while he was still in there the other one also came out and did a bit of shadow boxing !

I could see straight into the cockpit and there was no fecker actually flying the plane ! For sure they had it on autopilot but in those days an ancient trident was risky enough with someone at the controls let alone without !

I considered making a complaint when we landed in Shanghai but reckoned that they might stick me in jail so I thought better of it and let it be !

TBF they were better than Indian Airlines at the time but I'm happy to still be here to tell the tale !!

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Air India Express is one to avoid. PIA and Biman Bangladesh have dodgy reputations too.

 

You know you are in trouble when you fly on PIA and they have an Imam come on the PA and recite a prayer for a safe landing.....

 

While you are taxiing for take-off

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Do these dodgy airlines service the planes to proper schedules and standards, or just stamp the service book every 6 months?

 

I might have had some sympathy if those Indian pilots had taken a hostess or 2 into the toilets with them....

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Do these dodgy airlines service the planes to proper schedules and standards, or just stamp the service book every 6 months?

 

In theory, the former... each country has it's own Aviation Authority who will set standards. But as a result, each countries maintenance regime is only as good as the standard set by their AA, and naturally the more developed nations are more likely to have more rigorous standards, IMO.

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Do these dodgy airlines service the planes to proper schedules and standards, or just stamp the service book every 6 months?

 

I might have had some sympathy if those Indian pilots had taken a hostess or 2 into the toilets with them....

 

Quite a lot don't have the Safety Certs to a standard needed to fly into Europe/US. Garuda used to be one as I think Lion Air (Bali Overshoot)

Quite a few Latin American ones have similar issues

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I did Singapore - Bombay - London on Air India about 25 years ago. All well and good until Bombay stop as by the time we got back on board, the air con had packed up and it got a wee bit hot (thankfully it was night time). Two things I recall - they served a good curry (but maybe my pallet was a little unsophisticated in those days) and somewhat more concerning, a near miss (or near-ish). Flying along quite happily (probably over Germany) when the plane increases altitude and banks quite sharply (or noticeably sharply). Looked out the window, and another plane shoots by, probably 1/4 mile away. Amazing to see the closing speed!!

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I did Singapore - Bombay - London on Air India about 25 years ago. All well and good until Bombay stop as by the time we got back on board, the air con had packed up and it got a wee bit hot (thankfully it was night time). Two things I recall - they served a good curry (but maybe my pallet was a little unsophisticated in those days) and somewhat more concerning, a near miss (or near-ish). Flying along quite happily (probably over Germany) when the plane increases altitude and banks quite sharply (or noticeably sharply). Looked out the window, and another plane shoots by, probably 1/4 mile away. Amazing to see the closing speed!!

 

'Air India' was never really a problem as it was their international airline and had to conform to strict regulations, but 'Indian Airlines' was their domestic carrier and could scare the sh#t out of even the most seasoned traveller ! I think that they once lost two planes in the one day IIRC !!

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It was a lot better than Merpati. Recall taking a flight back in 1989 and seeing the jungle down through the side of the fuselage. But I guess the old DC3 (God know's how old that one would have been!!) was quite a strong old bus.

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Approx 30 years ago I was aboard the Chinese national carrier (CAAC) sitting up front when one of the two pilots came out and went to the loo, while he was still in there the other one also came out and did a bit of shadow boxing !

I could see straight into the cockpit and there was no fecker actually flying the plane ! For sure they had it on autopilot but in those days an ancient trident was risky enough with someone at the controls let alone without !

I considered making a complaint when we landed in Shanghai but reckoned that they might stick me in jail so I thought better of it and let it be !

TBF they were better than Indian Airlines at the time but I'm happy to still be here to tell the tale !!

 

I was doing a flight into a cat C airport with a Captain who had to do a familiarisation on the jump seat before being cleared to operate. He was in uniform, halfway through the flight he wandered up the back to chat up a hostie. While he was away I went to the toilet. Before I could open the toilet door the nearest passenger in panic asked me who was flying the a/c. I explained the F/O and that the other Capt wasn't operating.

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Just as long as it wasn't PIA... now they're seriously frightening... Derry and co. may wish to comment..

 

Any pilot worth his salt, and Derry is one, would never declare an airline to be unsafe ...... but they may tell you which airlines they are happy for them and their families to travel on!!!!

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Any pilot worth his salt, and Derry is one, would never declare an airline to be unsafe ...... but they may tell you which airlines they are happy for them and their families to travel on!!!!

 

You are spot on there Eric, sometimes we didn't have much choice. A crew positioning to Cuba in a subsidiary of Air Jamaica Dornier was flown into a Cu Nim, pretty much barrel rolled and lost a lot of height, we dropped them and would you believe went to Cubana, positioning on an An 24 until they lost a F27 and a An 24 the same day. That finished that. A mate from Boorley Green positioned on the Learjet that Payne Stewart was killed on a few weeks later. I refused to fly on a Venezuelan Let 410 after checking the dates on the life jackets and no handle on the emergency exit. It was lost in an accident a couple of years later.

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More Air India fun: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22528431

 

Although my Dad qualified as an RAF pilot there were too many more experienced around at the end of the war so he ended up on the ground. On duty at Manchester when the Man United Elizabethan crashed at Munich, when a TWA (IIRC) did a wheels up at Fiumicino, and at Terminal 1 when the Staines crash occurred...

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More Air India fun: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-22528431

 

Although my Dad qualified as an RAF pilot there were too many more experienced around at the end of the war so he ended up on the ground. On duty at Manchester when the Man United Elizabethan crashed at Munich, when a TWA (IIRC) did a wheels up at Fiumicino, and at Terminal 1 when the Staines crash occurred...

 

Here's one for you Sue a connection between the two crashes. The Captain of the Staines Trident represented the Captain of the Elizabethan at the subsequent enquiry/disciplinary hearings after the Munich crash. A travesty, the cause of the crash was slush increasing the drag by the square of the speed not understood in nosewheel aircraft at that time. The Germans would never admit it and blamed ice on the wings which was proved conclusively wrong in time. The travesty was that BEA sacked the Captain for being the commander in the wrong seat although the training captain in the co pilots seat was fully qualified as he was to fly in either seat. Subsequently when Captains were on occasions on the BAC 1-11 asked to fly together I insisted the Operations Manual was rewritten so that the designated Commander was the Captain occupying the left hand seat so that the pilots could handle the aircraft in turn from their regular seat. They didn't want to do it but we refused to operate unless they changed it.

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