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Bloomberg
Vistara, an Indian joint venture of conglomerate Tata Group and Singapore Airlines Ltd, has been fined after a first officer landed a passenger flight without completing required training.
The incident, which occurred during a landing in the central Indian city of Indore, was a serious violation that endangered the lives of passengers on board, according to a senior official at the nation’s aviation regulator who declined to be identified talking about a confidential probe.
The captain of the flight in August, which flew from New Delhi, also wasn’t simulator trained on how to guide a first officer during such landings, the official said. The plane ultimately landed safely without incident and no one was hurt.
Vistara — 51% owned by India’s largest conglomerate Tata and remainder by Singapore Airlines — was fined 1 million rupees ($12,900), the official said.
Concerns about flying have escalated around the world, with rusty pilots returning to the cockpit after lengthy absences during Covid-19. A global shortage of trained pilots has also hampered the aviation industry — one of
the worst-hit sectors during the pandemic — hampering a faster-than-expected recovery in air travel.