Woman in cockpit cannot be punished

Kamini Amin, the wife of a Air India senior manager can always say she didn't know rules; pilots will have to take blame

Woman in cockpit cannot be punished

Kamini Amin, the wife of a Air India senior manager can always say she didn't know rules; pilots will have to take blame

MiD DAY investigations have discovered the identity of the woman who attempted to fly ticketless on an Air India flight bound for Mangalore from Mumbai on May 5. Her name is Kamini Amin.

caught you! The story was published in MiD DAY on July 1. On May 5, minutes before the overbooked Mumbai-Mangalore AI flight 640 readied for takeoff, Kamini Amin and her kids were quietly smuggled in

She is the wife of a senior manager with Air India. With her on board the flight were her two children, all stowaways.
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On May 5, minutes before the overbooked Mumbai-Mangalore AI flight 640 readied for takeoff, the three stowaways were quietly smuggled in.

Kids on lap

Kamini was asked to sit on the instructor's seat in the cockpit, while the children sat on the laps of the pursers. The passenger list stated that they were all infants.

This extraordinary incidentu00a0 set off a spate of inquiries and the airline will now have to face criminal proceedings for nearly jeopardising the lives of the 172 passengers by allowing the three stowaways on board.
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The report, which will be presented to the director general of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Dr Naseem Zaidi within the next two days, has five staff members of Air India's commercial department confirming that the woman was Amin and that her two children were travelling on the crew seats.u00a0

Pilots blamed

A top Air India management official said that the report blames the pilot-in-command Reshi Alwali, who allowed Kamini into the cockpit.

Kamini's husband is a non-flying ground instructor and was formerly with the Indian Air Force before joining the national carrier.u00a0

Aviation expert T Bob, who did a long stint with the national carrier earlier, said, "The woman cannot be penalised since the rules may not necessarily be known to her.

She has the advantage ofu00a0 benefit of doubt on her side. The captains are mainly responsible for the lapse," he said.

Though this is the first incident of its kind coming to light, aviation experts believe it's common among employees of the national carrier and their family members.

"It's come to light now, but I have been hearing about these incidents earlier," said Bob.

Report awaited

Director general, DGCA Dr Naseem Zaidi when contacted said, "I expect the report within two days and it will be made public once I've approved it within the next few days."

Aviation expert Vipul Saxena observed that all officials who are people responsible and authorised by the DGCA for the safety of the aircraft have connived for their personal gains disregarding the risk to the lives of innocent passengers.

Meanwhile, the chairman and managing director of Air India, Arvind Jadhav directed the executive director, western region, to investigate the incident in question and take immediate punitive action against those involved in issuing extra boarding passes and denying information and documents to the DGCA.

... And the punishment

As Air India gets down to finding out who authorised the three passengers in excess of the aircraft capacity on its flight from Mumbai to Mangalore on May 5 and ensure there is no re-occurrence, the guilty face the possibility of imprisonment for a term which may extend to two years or with a fine which may extend to Rs 10 lakh, or both.

Last morning, Air India after 10 days of the MiD DAY report which first broke the news, the pilot-in-command Captain Reshi Alwali, his co-pilot and five people from the airlines commercial department face the above prospects.

Elaborating this aviation expert Vipul Saxena said, "Looking at the gravity of the situation DGCA may look into invoking provisions of Aircraft Act, 1934, against the erring pilots and commercial staff for violation of crucial sections (Sec 11 A and section 5A) of the Act.

"Penalty for failure to comply with directions issued under the sections could be a jail term, fine or both."

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