The row over a parliamentarian being asked to disembark from an Air India aircraft by its pilot deepened on Monday with reports indicating that a panel, which probed the incident, has concluded that he had entered the cockpit, thus violating airline regulations.
However, official sources said the Mumbai unit of the Bureau of Civil Aviation Security, which carried out the probe, is yet to submit its report to the BCAS headquarters in New Delhi.
Air India's internal probe report has also not been finalised as yet, airline sources said.
Charges have flown thick and fast, and denials followed with Rajya Sabha MP P V Abdul Wahab alleging 'rude' behaviour by Capt Rajat Rana, the pilot of AI-998, and the Indian Commercial Pilots Association claiming that the IUML leader 'opened the cockpit door, entered inside and abused the pilot'.
Wahab has denied that he entered the cockpit and refused to tender an apology for allegedly describing the pilot as 'glorified drivers'.
"Let the pilots' association do what it wants to do," the Kerala parliamentarian said.
Wahab and his wife were to fly from Kozhikode to Kochi on April six from where they were to catch a connecting flight to Dubai, but were ordered to disembark. The couple reached Dubai by another flight.
The ICPA has also claimed that Wahab had breached the Indian Aircraft Rule 29, which says: 'No person shall interfere with the Commander or with members of the operating crew of an aircraft or tamper with the aircraft or its equipments or conduct himself in a disorderly manner with the passengers or crew'.
"It is an unfortunate incident. But pending the enquiry, it is premature to give an opinion as to who was at fault. It is not right to say that all MPs are wrong or all pilots are right. Nothing should be imputed till the enquiry is completed," Patel has said, adding "as a Minister, we would like to see that this incident is behind us."
Earlier, the ICPA had threatened to file a defamation suit against Wahab, who warned of moving the Parliament's Privileges Committee on the issue. ICPA has also warned that it would move the US Homeland Security Department and the International Federation of Airline Pilots Associations to get the MP blacklisted for allegedly endangering flight security.
