Unexplained snags on Rahul Gandhi’s flight: Charter industry opposes politicisation

The business jet industry is miffed with the Karnataka police for lodging an FIR against the pilot and cockpit crew of the chartered aircraft that developed snags while flying Congress president, Rahul Gandhi. The flight had developed a snag while flying between Delhi and Hubli in north Karnataka where Rahul Gandhi was scheduled to campaign for the assembly polls.

In a statement, the Business Aircraft Operators Association said that any attempt to use such incidents for political purposes is totally uncalled for as it could adversely affect the safety of overall operations of charter planes.

The Congress had filed a complaint in which it alleged that the snags were unexplained.

The statement further read, "BAOA feels deeply concerned that in one of the recent incidents involving a chartered flight for a senior political leader operated by one of our members Ligare Aviation, an FIR was lodged with the police against the operator and the pilots for criminal negligence."

As per initial reports, the aircraft developed a technical snag in mid-air and the pilots landed the aircraft safely as per the standard operating procedure (SOP), after duly assessing the situation, the statement read.

"Any attempt to use such incidents for political purpose is totally uncalled for, as it would result in avoidable stress on pilots involved in such VIP flights and adversely affect the flight safety environment of general and business aviation industry.

"We strongly urge all political parties to facilitate us maintain the highest level of flight safety standards in all charter flights," it also added.