DGCA suspends pilot for 3 months for wrongly transmitting hijack code

Aviation regulator DGCA Friday suspended an AirAsia India pilot for a period of three months for erroneously transmitting the 'hijack code' to the Air Traffic Services during a Delhi-Srinagar flight on June 9, sources said. "As one of the engines had stalled at this I5-715 flight of AirAsia India, the first officer (pilot) was supposed to transmit the emergency code 7700 to Air Traffic Services (ATS) authorities. Instead, he erroneously 'squawked' the hijack code 7500 to ATS," the sources told PTI.

According to the sources, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a show cause notice to the pilot in the matter on June 28. "However, as the reply received was not satisfactory, the first officer was suspended for a period of three months on Friday by the DGCA," they said.

The pilot-in-command of the AirAsia Delhi-Srinagar flight was given a warning by the DGCA on Friday for not "overseeing the function of the first officer properly", the sources said.