Mid-air scuffle: Pilots, cabin crew appear before probe panel

Two Air India pilots, a flight purser and an air hostess of a Delhi-bound flight, involved in the mid-air scuffle, on Wednesday appeared before a committee probing the molestation charge by the woman.

Two Air India pilots, a flight purser and an air hostess of a Delhi-bound flight, involved in the mid-air scuffle, on Wednesday appeared before a committee probing the molestation charge by the woman.

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Commander of Air India flight IC-884 from Shrajah, Ranbir Arora, co-pilot Aditya Chopra, flight purser Amit Khanna and air hostess Komal Singh appeared before the five-member committee.

The airline management had constituted a five-member committee, headed by a senior woman official, to examine sexual harassment charges leveled by the air hostess against the two pilots.

The committee, which has begun its investigations, has a representative from an NGO.

Air India on Tuesday had suspended the senior pilot and the flight purser the airline after an inquiry held them guilty of playing a "major role" in the mid-air scuffle that led the air hostess to file a molestation case against the two pilots.

The airline had also kept the co-pilot and the air hostess de-rostered till the probe was over.

The incident occurred in the cockpit of flight IC-884 on Saturday and is understood to have started after verbal exchanges during the pre-flight briefing session ahead of take-off from Sharjah.