Man holds up flight as pilot was a woman

It was a dramatic 40 minutes for Mumbai-bound passengers of Indigo flight after a traveller refused to fly saying he would not endanger his life as the plane was piloted by a woman.

It was a dramatic 40 minutes for Mumbai-bound passengers of Indigo flight after a traveller refused to fly saying he would not endanger his life as the plane was piloted by a woman.

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The Indigo flight 6E 179 that was supposed to take off at 8.10 am on Friday was delayed by one-and-a-half hours. On hearing a woman’s voice in the customary announcement in which the pilot introduced herself to the passengers, the man started panicking.

“First the flight was held up by a slight fog. Then... a middle-aged man seated a couple of seats away from me objected to a woman piloting the plane,” Partha Guha, a passenger, said.

An airline official said he called the airhostess and told her he would not fly with a woman pilot.

“Marna hai kya? Ghar nahi sambhalta, plane kya sambhalegi? (I don’t want to die! She can’t handle her home, how will she handle a plane?)”

Airport security officials took him off the plane, but he was allowed back after an apology.