Drunk pilot delays flight for five hours

Mangaluru: Mangaluru-Dubai SpiceJet flight with around 180 passengers was delayed for over five hours.

The flight, which was supposed to depart from the Mangaluru airport at 12:40am was took off at around 6 am after authorities made arrangements to replace the pilot.

As per reports, a Turkish woman pilot who was to command the SpiceJet flight from here was found to be heavily intoxicated. As a result, the flight was put off for about five hours.

SpiceJet has been operating flights between the city and Dubai since about a year. The aircraft is leased from Corendon Airlines in Turkey through an agreement. All the people manning this aircraft are from Turkey. Sources said that the woman pilot, who was caught for consuming excessive quantities of liquor, has set up her residence in the city. Sources said that she will not be allowed to operate any flights till investigation is conducted into the incident and a final decision is taken.

The flight took off after five hours as an alternative pilot was arranged.

It has been reported that, the passengers were officially informed that the departure was delayed on account of technical snag.