Instructors leave city, AI pilots left untrained

National carrier Air India's plan to operate Boeing 787, the fuel-efficient Dreamliner aircraft, on the Mumbai-London and Delhi-Melbourne-Sydney routes is not likely to take-off this year as pilot training for aircraft stopped abruptly on Wednesday.

National carrier Air India's plan to operate Boeing 787, the fuel-efficient Dreamliner aircraft, on the Mumbai-London and Delhi-Melbourne-Sydney routes is not likely to take-off this year as pilot training for aircraft stopped abruptly on Wednesday.

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According to sources, six instructors sent by Boeing to provide line training to AI pilots left the city on Wednesday before completing the process.

Line training a part of flight training, in which an instructor pilot occupies the co-pilot’s seat and monitors the commander's flying skills.

The stoppage of training has left at least 14 sets of 787 pilots unfit for flying along.

“The Boeing instructors were hired for 600 man hours which roughly corresponds to 90 days. How could the airline let them off after barely a month?” said a senior commander, requesting anonymity.

“The civil aviation minister had announced that these flights would start by November, but poor training management has delayed the operations,” said another senior flight operation official.