Wild scenes as ‘unruly’ passengers confront crew after pilot refuses to fly IndiGo flight from Mumbai to Krabi
Chaotic scenes broke out on an IndiGo flight from Mumbai to Krabi after the pilot reportedly refused to fly.
The IndiGo flight 6E 1085 was scheduled to depart Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport in Mumbai at 4.05am local time on January 15, bound for Krabi International Airport.
However, after three hours of the plane being grounded due to the captain purportedly refusing to fly beyond his duty hours, the passengers became restless.
Sign up to The Nightly's newsletters.
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.The moment a heated argument broke out between the frustrated passengers and the terrified crew was captured on video that has since gone viral on social media.
One angry passenger can be seen kicking at the Airbus A320’s exit door, while another aggressively waves his finger in a crew member’s face.
One woman can be heard yelling: “What about our plans that we had?” She then turns on the pilot asking why he is “hiding” and calling him a “rat”.
A spokesperson for IndiGo said the flight was delayed due to a combination of factors, including the late arrival of the incoming aircraft, air traffic congestion, and the crew exceeding their duty time limits.
Two of the passengers, they said, “behaved inappropriately” and were “declared unruly”.
“As per protocol, they were deboarded and handed over to the security agencies, resulting in further delays,” they said.
Meals and refreshments were served to passengers multiple times to ease the wait time, according to the spokesperson.
“We remain committed to ensuring a safe and respectful environment for all and regret the inconvenience caused to our customers.”
Finally the plane landed in Krabi at 1.13pm local time, nearly three hours behind its scheduled arrival of 10am.
Recent industry-wide scrutiny and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation’s (DGCA) stricter enforcement of Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL) has legally prohibited pilots from operated a flight once they hit their maximum hours.
As per the DGCA, this is generally between 8-10 hours depending on duty periods.
Even if a pilot wanted to proceed with a flight, doing so would constitute a serious regulatory violation and safety risk.
