AI denies media report about pilots falling asleep in cockpit

Mumbai, Jun 26 (UNI) Air India today rubbished a media report in a daily here that pilots of its Dubai-Delhi-Jaipur-Mumbai bound flight were fast asleep and had to be awakened by an emergency buzzer.

''The Plane had gone 10-15 nautical km beyond Mumbai, as it had lost the radio contact for the duration of around two minutes on June 4 in the morning,'' visibly upset Air India executive director Jeetendra Bhargav told reporters at a hurriedly convened news conference at the airlines headquarters here.

He clarified that this was neither a major incident nor a failure and it had no safety-related issue.

He said the commander of the said flight had reported to the flight safety department about the loss of radio contact for two minutes.

Mr Bhargav alleged that the said newspaper was issuing similar reports mentioning ''pilots fatigue'' for the last six weeks.

''Such reports are maligning and tarnishing the image of the airlines,'' he said, adding that he had already sent a letter clarifying his stand to the editor of the said newspaper.

When asked whether AI would resort to any legal action, the AI official said ''we will have to wait for the response from the publication''.

UNI JM SSS SG NS2006