Two pilots, eight crew of Jet flight suspended

The crew, including two pilots, of a Chennai-bound Jet Airways plane last night were suspended today after a probe indicated "serious procedural lapses" in an emergency evacuation carried out by them suspecting fire that was not not there.

14 passengers sustained injuries in the evacuation when 141 passengers, including an infant, were deplaned using emergency chutes and services after the pilot reported fire in one of the aircraft's engines when it was on the taxiway for take-off.

The handling of the situation by the crew came under attack from passengers some of whom said they were virtually thrown out of the aircraft. Proper evacuation procedures were not not followed and in the sudden surge of passengers, many of them received injuries.

After a preliminary probe, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) found "serious procedural lapses" in the emergency procedures carried out last night by the cockpit and cabin crew, took them off duty and later suspended them.

Those suspended are both the pilots, including the commander, four cabin crew members and four additional cabin crew members.

"The preliminary fact-finding by the DGCA has indicated serious procedural lapses in dealing with the emergency and evacuation situation as per existing procedures laid down in aircraft rules and regulations, by the operating aircraft crew members of the Jet Airways flight 9W2302," an official statement said in Mumbai.

The DGCA has removed the cockpit voice recorder and the digital flight data recorder to analyse recordings of voices and other parameters of the Boeing 737 aircraft.

Jet Airways, however, maintained that the crew of the Mumbai-Chennai flight "initiated a precautionary evacuation on the taxiway due to a suspected fire around the left engine.

"The precautionary evacuation was carried out in the interest of safety of the guests and the crew. The crew carried out the evacuation in accordance with standard operating procedures. Subsequent inspection of the engine has indicated that there was no fire," the airline said.

The DGCA said it was treating the incident as "serious" and added that a formal investigation would be carried out by a team comprising director air safety, Mumbai, flight operation inspector and cabin safety incharge of the DGCA.

The regulator has also called for a meeting of the heads of training of all airlines to review the training procedures of cabin and flight crews, particularly in emergency and evacuation procedures.