Jet pilots in soup for taxiway take-off bid

NEW DELHI : The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended the licences of two Jet Airways pilots who tried to take off from a taxiway at Riyadh airport on August 3.

Flight 9W523, with over 140 passengers and 7 crew members, was departing from Riyadh for Mumbai when the incident occurred. According to the DGCA, the reason for the take-off attempt was still being probed.

“DGCA has suspended the licences of both the pilots involved in the runway excursion incident at Riyadh pending investigation,” a spokesperson for DGCA said.

“... Initial factual information confirmed that the aircraft attempted to take off from taxiway (K) parallel to take off designated runway (R33) while the visibility was high and there was no obstacle of FOD (foreign object) on the taxiway,” said a release from the Saudi Aviation Investigation Bureau . “The aircraft accelerated with full take off power and exceeded taxiway onto an unpaved area, ending up close to the exit of taxiway...” it added. The DGCA will take statements of the pilots and will speak to the investigation team in Riyadh to establish sequence of events. NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected the prearrest bail pleas of the two Malankara Orthodox Church priests from Kerala accused of blackmailing and sexually assaulting a married woman for over a decade using her confession, when she was 16, as leverage.

It asked Father Sony Verghese, the main accused, and Father Jaise K George to surrender by next Monday and apply for regular bail from a lower court.