AI chief praises ‘tainted’ captain

A day after Air India pilots warned the Prime Minister’s office about alleged chinks in the safety records of a senior pilot shortlisted to head the airline’s flight operations, the airline chief Ashwani Lohani wrote a note showering praises on the same person.

In the note sent to the national security advisor Ajit Doval on October 22, the Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA), a union comprising more than 800 pilots alleged that the captain, the airline’s executive director, operations and one of the candidates running for the post, had hushed up several safety lapses.

On Sunday, a day after the note was sent, Lohani gave his testimony on the captain. “I want to place on record the exemplary work done by you personally and the entire operations team under your leadership in planning and executing the longest non-stop flight in the world — the Delhi San Fransisco flight over the Pacific,” he wrote.

The flight was operated on October 15.

The timing of letter raised eyebrows among the staffers “Why would you wait for a week and respond a day after the ICPA warning?” asked a senior AI staff requesting anonymity.

The ICPA letter alleged that in 2007, when the allegedly “tainted” captain was the execu tive commander of a Moscow bound flight carrying the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, it faced a mid-air safety scare. The cockpit crew alleg edly forgot to lower the landing gear close to touchdown. They made the correction after being alerted by the Moscow ATC and after noticing the warning sign in the cockpit, added the ICPA note.