Mumbai: A senior SpiceJet pilot lost his licence to test other pilots after he flew a Boeing 737 with his unqualified son in the co-pilot's seat in the cruise phase of three commercial flights between Delhi, Hyderabad and Coimbatore. The incident occurred during a training routine.
The examiner's son was a fresh commercial pilot licence holder who had joined SpiceJet as a trainee. In May last year, at the time of the incident, he was not type-rated for Boeing 737 but his dad let him into the cockpit. The test pilot, who's also a SpiceJet general manager, was stripped of his examiner status for five years last month by the DGCA after several probes.
A fresh CPL holder is generally trained only to fly piston-engine aircraft that operate at speeds in the range of 80-130 knots (150-240 kmph) and need only a single pilot. Aircraft like B737 demands several crew and operates at speeds of more than 300 knots (over 555 kmph).
The SpiceJet violation case came under DGCA lens after then DGCA boss Nasim Zaidi received an anonymous mail in July last year.
22/12/10 Manju V/Times of India
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