IndiGo Passengers Ask For A Different Pilot Following Diversion

The Lucknow-Mumbai flight had to be diverted to Udaipur.

Failed landing attempts can happen for various reasons, and pilots are trained to react in different situations, be it inclement weather or malfunctioning aircraft systems. On Tuesday afternoon, an IndiGo flight failed to land in Mumbai after several attempts and had to be diverted to its alternate destination. However, it seems the entire experience affected the passengers enough for them to demand another pilot to ferry them back.

Multiple landing attempts

IndiGo flight 6E 2441 is a daily scheduled domestic service between Lucknow and Mumbai with a departure time of 11:10 and arrival at 13:15. On June 13th, the aircraft departed almost an hour later than its scheduled departure for what seemed to be a regular flight.

However, upon reaching Mumbai, the pilot had to reportedly initiate two go-arounds before deciding to divert to Udaipur in the state of Rajasthan. While go-arounds and diversions are not uncommon and something that pilots are adequately trained for, the passengers of this particular flight were not happy with how the pilot handled the situation.

Demand for a different pilot

As the aircraft approached Udaipur, passengers said the first landing attempt ended in a missed approach. And once the plane was finally on the ground, the passengers demanded the aircraft’s pilot be changed. One of the travelers, Saurabh Singh Kaushik, told the Hindustan Times,

“The pilot made two failed attempts at Mumbai Airport and one at Udaipur Airport. The flight touched down at Mumbai Airport, and he took off again. Even in Udaipur where there was no question of bad weather, he failed to land in the first attempt. That’s why all of us decided not to fly with the same pilot. It took three hours for the airline to agree and change the pilot, and we landed back in Mumbai around 8 pm.”

Another passenger, Saurabh Chapdia, commented,

“We have never faced this in so many years of travel. We could clearly see that the flight touched down on the runway and took off again. A similar thing happened in Udaipur. Like a fruit falling from a tree, the aircraft came down and did a hard landing. It was a tough situation, and it is God’s grace that we landed safely.”

Go around

While the passengers of the IndiGo flight may have understandably gotten nervous after multiple missed approaches, it remains to be seen whether their assumption that it was the pilot’s fault was correct.

Pilots are trained for landing in inclement weather (something that IndiGo claims was the reason for diversion), and the final decision to go ahead with the landing or initiate a go-around and divert also lies with them. It is, indeed, rare to see passengers demanding a change of pilot, as happened with the IndiGo flight. The airline says that the pilot was fatigued after the diversion, resulting in the crew change.

Source: Simple Flying