Pilot Lets the Flight Attendant Fly the Plane for 40 Minutes

When I read this headline in the news, I thought, “Air India?” and I was woefully right.

From Mumbai Mirror:

Two Air India pilots put the lives of 166 passengers on a Bangkok-Delhi flight in danger by taking a 40-minute break from the cockpit and getting two stewardesses to operate the plane in their absence.

The scariest part is:    the only reason they were caught is because one of the flight attendants (the article uses the outdated “stewardesses”) hit the auto-pilot button and turned off the auto-pilot.  The pilot *did* give her a two minute explanation of how to fly the plane, so I’m sure she was fine.  Really.

The Flight Attendant Discovers the Auto-Pilot Has Been Turned Off
The Flight Attendant Discovers the Auto-Pilot Has Been Turned Off

The thing that disturbs me about this is that the discovery happened because the auto-pilot shut off.  How many times was this occurring beforehand?!  And what the heck did the pilots eat that deserved a 40-minute loo break?  (The fish?)

Except it wasn’t really a loo break.  They were napping in business class.  Which leads me to also question, why wasn’t anyone in business class disturbed that the two pilots were sleeping there?

There were 166 people on board when this incident occurred.  And the plane was a big pretty white plane with red stripes, curtains in the windows and wheels and it looks like a big Tylenol.

Hat tip to AirFareWatchDog.

 

About Jeanne Marie Hoffman

Former bartender, still a geek. One equal part each cookies, liberty, football, music, travel, libations. Stir vigorously. +Jeanne Marie Hoffman Jeanne on Twitter

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6 comments

  1. Not exactly a super long flight… wow, Air India… still dominating. I expected former Soviet bloc.

    • I felt bad assuming that it was Air India while I was waiting for the article to load and let out a deep sigh when I was right.

  2. Surely you must be joking.

  3. Amazing that they were suspended and not dismissed.

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