Flight delayed for 3 hours after pilot and engineer fight in cockpit
An Air India flight was delayed for three hours after the pilot and an engineer got into a fight in the cockpit over a technical fault.
The scrap happened as 122 passengers waited in the cabin for the plane from Chennai to Paris to take off.
According to the Mirror, the pilot, Captain Manik Lal, was immediately derostered as other flight engineers staged a protest over his behaviour at Chennai airport.
Lal was frustrated with delays as ground staff tried to sort out a technical fault.
When flight engineer, V T Kannnan told him the Boeing 787 was still not ready to be handed over for flying, a fight ensued as Lal became increasingly angry with the engineers for failing to fix the fault.
The flight engineer suffered a minor chin injury.
A spokesperson for Air India told the Times of India: 'He (Lal) was not pleased to see too many people inside the cockpit and started to send them out.
'The flight engineer V T Kannan reached the cockpit and informed the pilot that the plane was yet to be handed over to the crew for flying.
'But the pilot refused to pay heed to the explanation.'
Air India has ordered an inquiry into the incident.
According to the Metro, a replacement pilot took over and the flight departed around three hours later than scheduled, arriving in Delhi at 2.50pm local time.
The Delhi to Paris leg was 30 minutes behind schedule.
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