Air India says it has suspended a pilot and is investigating further after the pilot allegedly brawled with a mechanic in the cockpit of a Boeing 787 at the airport in Chennai, India, on Saturday. According to various media reports, the pilot was apparently upset by the time it was taking to fix a fault with the aircraft. When the tech went to the cockpit to tell the pilot the aircraft couldn’t be released for flight, he quite literally took it on the chin. After allegedly punching the mechanic, the pilot locked himself in the cockpit until he was finally led away to a local hospital.
Boarding was complete when the maintenance hitch showed up. It took about three hours to sort out both the technical issue and the fallout from the fracas. The mechanic’s fellow engineers staged a protest to show their displeasure at the pilot’s behavior. The airline rounded up another pilot and the flight left for Delhi to pick up more passengers and it arrived at its final destination of Paris just 30 minutes behind schedule.
