Air India Express ousts ‘Sir’ from cockpit, brings in ‘Captain’
MUMBAI: In a bid to rejig the power gradient in the cockpit, Air India Express has instructed its first officers to address the pilot-in-command not as ‘Sir’, but by their first name or simply as “Captain”.
The operations circular issued on Friday referred to the October 2018 Trichy accident in which an Air India Express aircraft had a tail strike, then hit a ground-based navigation aid and finally took down the upper portion of the airport boundary wall before it took off for Dubai. The eventful take-off left the aircraft with a fissured underbelly. According to the final investigation report released last month by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, the trigger was a sudden and unexpected reclining of commander’s seat during the take off roll.
