New Delhi: On Thursday, Aviation Regulator DGCA suspended two IndiGo pilots for two months for flying a Hyderabad-Vijaywada flight with the tail prop attached even though the Air Traffic Control (ATC) notified them instantly after take-off, an official said.
The incident happened on July 24, said a DGCA official.
During loading or unloading of any kind of cargo in an aircraft, the tail support or 'tail prop' is used to prevent the plane from tipping over backwards. The Aviation regulator DGCA said the air traffic controller instantly notified the pilots about it, but they kept flying instead of returning to Hyderabad. "The pilots — Captain Amit Bansal and Captain Bharat Saini — were advised by the ATC instantly after the take-off that their tail prop is still attached to their ATR-72 aircraft. However, instead of returning, the pilots decided to continue flying to Vijaywada. This could have caused structural damage to the ATR72 aircraft during the flight," said the representative of the DGCA.
