Man in loo, pet dog in cockpit...

DGCA fears officials' have been breaking flight rules for years

The discovery of three passengers travelling illegally in the cockpit of an Air India flight to Mangalore has compelled the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) to now fear that this has been a routine practice for all airlines for years.
u00a0
"Only pilots, cabin crew, officers of DGCA, aviation ministry or meteorology department on observation flights with prior clearance are permitted in the cockpit.

This was found to have been illegally expanded," said Kanu Gohain, former director general, DGCA. He added that illegal fliers included friends, spouses and children of senior officials such as pilots and engineers.
u00a0
"Once, a woman and her pet dog flew in the cockpit while another time, a man was asked to fly sitting in the toilet."
u00a0
DGCA has found that private airlines allow off-duty staff to travel in the cockpit. Said Naseem Zaidi, director general, DGCA, "Even pilots can travel in the cockpit only if they are on duty, not during personal trips."

Manual passes

Illegal passengers board flights with manual boarding passes. Explaining the DGCA rules, aviation expert Vipul Saxena said these passes can be issued, "only if there is a problem in issuing a printout, a system error or a power failure." The DGCA is currently busy plugging the loopholes in the rules.
u00a0
The DGCA has issued an aeronautical information circular as a warning-cum-guideline for airline staff to deter them from accommodating unauthorised passengers on full flights. It will soon issue a circular specifically on cockpit travel.