Indian Airlines has initiated disciplinary action against a pilot for failure to "turn up to operate" an airbus A300 flight (IC 173) to Chennai last night. According to IA sources, a chargesheet is being issued to Capt Cyrus Patel, a co-pilot, who did "not report for duty", thus delaying the flight by over three hours and causing inconvenience to 175 passengers. The sources said that the pilot telephoned the operations department to inform that he was held up in a traffic jam. He was, however, told to park his vehicle and take a taxi to the airport for which he would be reimbursed.
He was not heard from after that while the passengers had boarded the flight. They were later asked to disembark and had to wait till another co-pilot could be arranged to operate the flight, the sources said.
Bureau Report