Aviation unions support pilot in pee-gate fiasco; write letter to DGCA, Union minister

Representative image.

Aviation unions in India are upset over the licence suspension of Captain Narayan Ramprasad by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for a period of three months. Captain Ramprasad was the pilot-in-command of Air India AI-102 flight which flew from New York-New Delhi on November 26 last year, which has been in the public eye over the 'Pee-Gate' incident.

On November 26, a passenger identified as Shankar Mishra allegedly urinated on a woman co-passenger on Air India's New York-Delhi AI-102 flight in a drunken state.

On January 24, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association, Indian Pilots Guild, Airlines Pilots Association of India, All India Cabin Crew Association, Air Corporations Employees Union, and Air India Employees Union wrote a letter to the DGCA to appeal against the suspension of Captain Ramprasad.

In the letter, the unions questioned the aviation regulator's judgment and said that the regulator has acted without perhaps obtaining all the facts on record.

"The due process of investigation has not been followed and vital steps in the investigation and enforcement have been skipped. Additionally, gaps remain in the data collected which need to be brought to light," the letter read.

Further, the letter pointed out that Air India's Internal Complaints Committee (ICC) formed to investigate the incident did not complete their due diligence while forming their report.

"There are major inadequacies with the conclusions of Air India's ICC report," the letter read, adding that the information gathered in the report consists of many inaccuracies.

The letter also said that none of the pilots or cabin crew on board AI 102 appeared personally before Air India's ICC and presented their version of the facts.

"On these grounds alone the Internal Complaints Committee report should be quashed, and by extension, the suspension of Captain Narayan Ramprasad be revoked," the letter said.

Furthermore, the letter pointed out that the pilots and cabin crew on-board AI 102 forwarded all incident reports to Air India and their senior officers when the flight landed.

The unions also pointed out that Air India had 12 hours to study all reports and report the matter to the DGCA, and many more days to discuss the issue to file a First Information Report if they felt it was required.

The letter by the unions also pointed out that as there was no eyewitness to the peeing incident and Mishra was polite and cooperative when questioned by the cabin crew, it made it difficult to brand him as an unruly passenger.

"Whilst not condoning the alleged act, the lack of evidence and eyewitnesses, many contradictory accounts received on board and Mr. Mishra's polite and cooperative decorum was the very reason that the PIC, the Cabin Supervisor, and the crew on board AI-102 could not have branded him as an unruly passenger," the letter read.

Furthermore, the letter also said that if this incident is to be taken as the norm going forward it would give rise to a highly anxious atmosphere for the pilots, crew and the travelling public.

"A mere allegation on an aircraft would result in restraint and post-flight prosecution. Such an atmosphere is truly undesirable," the report said.

A copy of the letter was sent to Minister of Civil Aviation Jyotiraditya Scindia, aviation secretary Rajiv Bansal, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson and Air India COO Captain RS Sandhu.

The letter by all unions comes a day after the All India Cabin Crew Association (AICCA) demanded that 15 of its members and four pilots be reinstated on flights.

Last week, the DGCA imposed a penalty of Rs 30 lakh on Air India after the incident.

"License Suspension of Pilot-In-Command of the said flight for a period of three months (03 months) for failing to discharge his duties as per Rule 141 of the Aircraft Rules, 1937 and applicable DGCA Civil Aviation Requirements," the DGCA had said in a statement on January 20.

On January 4, media reports first highlighted the incident, causing outrage among the public at large, and prompting the DGCA, which did not know about it till then, to act.

At the time, the airline said the delay in reporting the matter to the DGCA was because the crew did not report it on time. “We have also constituted an internal committee to probe lapses on part of Air India’s crew and address the deficiencies that delayed quick redressal of the situation,” Air India said in a statement on January 4.

The airline on January 19 submitted its internal committee report with the DGCA and banned the accused Mishra for four months. Mishra was banned earlier for 30 days after news of the incident broke out earlier this month. The order has now been extended by a further four months.

Mishra was arrested on January 4 by the Delhi Police in the Air India urination case which came to light almost a month after it took place after the elderly women passenger complained to Air India.

The case between Mishra and the 72-year-old woman flying business class on Air India is pending in Delhi’s Patiala House Court.