Two Jet Airways pilots have been suspended by India’s directorate general of civil aviation (DGCA) over an uncontrolled descent incident while in Turkish airspace on 8 August.
Indian media reports say the aircraft was operating a Mumbai-Brussels service when it had an uncontrolled descent of 5,000ft to 29,000ft. This caused the Ankara air traffic control (ATC) to issue an emergency message inquiring on the deviation from the assigned flight level.
FlightRadar24 indicates the aircraft involved in the incident is Boeing 777-300ER, registered VT-JEK.
At the time of the incident, the pilot-in-command was reportedly on a “controlled rest,” while the co-pilot claimed to be working on an electronic flight bag. Immediately after the message from Ankara ATC, the captain was woken up to raise the aircraft to a newly designated flight level of 32,000ft.
“The airline is extending all co-operation in the matter to the DGCA by providing all necessary assistance for the inquiry. Safety is of paramount importance to Jet Airways as is also the welfare of our guests and crew and the airline will always take appropriate steps to ensure the same,” the airline says in a statement.
Attempts by Flightglobal to reach the airline and DGCA for more information were unsuccessful.
Source: Cirium Dashboard
