India: Two SpiceJet pilots grounded for having sweets, beverages in cockpit on Holi, say reports

Two pilots of the Indian airline SpiceJet have been grounded for having beverages and Gujiyas (an Indian sweet) in the flight's cockpit. According to reports by Indian media outlets, the incident occurred on a SpiceJet flight from Delhi to Guwahati on March 8- the day of Holi.

Taking to Twitter on Tuesday (March 14), Mohan Ranganathan, an aviation safety consultant, shared the photograph of the pilots holding Gujiyas and a beverage placed precariously on the aircraft's control panel.

Ranganathan said the aircraft was at 37,000 feet cruising at 0.79M. "Even horoscope cant save you if there is an emergency," he said and tagged India's Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia. His tweet sparked outrage from several Twitter users who criticised the pilots for their conduct.

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"Let us see what is the "Safety" concept of the new DGCA action against the pilots and the ACCOUNTABLE MANAGER of the airline. The indiscipline in the sky in India is because we have complicity of the Regulator and his corrupt officials with airlines. These 2 are unfit in cockpit," Ranganathan said in response to one of the Twitter users.

The aviation safety consultant also pointed out, "The Central pedestal is not a table. Even the slightest turbulence and coffee/ spills on to the electronics, it will foul the systems. This is s CRIMINAL act."

On Wednesday, SpiceJet said it was looking into the matter and had taken the two pilots off-duty. A spokesperson from the airline said that it has a strict policy for consuming food inside the cockpit which is adhered to by all flight crew, according to a report by India Today on Thursday.

As per India's aviation rules, pilots and crew are allowed to have food, and beverages inside the cockpit but under strict guidelines.

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