State-run carrier Air India said
Saturday it had suspended a pilot and
two female flight attendants after a
passenger jet’s autopilot system was
accidentally switched off “due to
distraction”. The event occurred on an Air India
Airbus flight to New Delhi from
Bangkok last month carrying over 160
passengers and followed a series of
other safety-related incidents
involving the airline. Air India denied media reports the
pilot and co-pilot had taken a 40-
minute cockpit break to snooze in
business class seats and left two
attendants in their places to operate
the plane in their absence. But it did say the pilot and two air
hostesses had been suspended
pending the outcome of an
investigation and that the two airline
attendants had overstayed the
allowed length of time in the cockpit. There was an “overstay of the cabin
crew in the cockpit,” the airline said,
and “due to distraction the co-pilot
had touched the autopilot disconnect
button momentarily, but the same was
connected back”. The airline did not reveal the nature of
the distraction but the Times of India
newspaper quoted an unnamed Air
India source as saying the crew
members’ actions had “made a
mockery of air safety”. Indian media reports alleged the
pilots were giving the flight
attendants flying lessons. “At no point of time was the cockpit
left unattended by the cockpit crew,”
the airline statement added. Earlier this year, Air India suspended a
senior pilot caught drunk just before
he was to fly a passenger aircraft. Also
in the last few years, authorities have
discovered at least half a dozen Indian
pilots flying aircraft using faked documents, including an Air India
pilot. Air India is the country’s fourth-
largest airline by market share and
has been hit hard by rising fuel prices
and fierce competition from private
carriers that have added to its legacy
of labour problems and crushing debts. In March, the International Civil
Aviation Organization, the UN aviation
watchdog, expressed grave concerns
about India’s air safety, placing it
among the 13 worst-performing
nations. An investigation into the auto-pilot
incident is being carried out by India’s
Directorate General of Civil Aviation. “Following a safety violation, the
airline has already suspended the
people in question,” said the agency.
AFP

www.vanguardngr.com/2013/05/air-india-pilot-crew-suspended-over-mid-air-distraction/

key words : 2 air attendants, 1 co-pilot, over-stayed......... So which type of distraction is this?

There is no cause for alarm. The First Officer was merely taking advantage of the Captain's snooze break, in order to induct that pair of comely wenches into the Mile High Club.

Remember that India is the land from where the Karma Sutra orginated, and this too must be taken into account, regarding how the auto-pilot disengage button was accidentally impacted on the downstroke.

at dat high altitude, nah budha straight o