A fishy affair

KOLKATA: The Air India management has ordered a probe into a pilot’s attempt to ‘smuggle’ out hilsa on a flight from Dhaka to Kolkata earlier this month and asked him to explain the subsequent delay in take-off. Though the airline’s security officer foiled the pilot’s attempt, the fracas ensued delayed the August 8 flight by nearly an hour.

Airline insiders said all 54 passengers had boarded AI 229 by 9.15pm (local time), well in time for the 9.25pm departure. But, much to the chagrin of passengers, the Airbus A319 aircraft would not budge.

TOI checked with several people in the know and all of them confirmed that there was a heated exchange between one of the two pilots and the airline’s security officer in Dhaka over a consignment that the pilot wanted to carry on the aircraft. All of them corroborated that a contractual worker, employed by the airline, had come to deliver an ice-pack containing a 2.5kg hilsa to the pilot just minutes before departure.

The security officer, who went by the book, refused to allow the package on board. The consignment was contraband since Bangladesh had a ban on hilsa export.

“Even if the item had not been hilsa, it would still have to be carried in the cargo hold. Indian rules do not permit import of fruits, vegetables, raw fish and poultry without licence,” an airline official said.

The security officer held his ground, leaving the pilot with no other option but to storm onto the aircraft without the package. He then ordered the aircraft door to be closed without counter-signing the Aircraft Release Certificate (ARC), a final documentation prior to a take-off.

The flight was already 35 minutes behind schedule by then and, curious about the cause of the delay, Dhaka airport authorities began inquiring and got wind of the fracas and the ATC was asked to hold back the aircraft.

Realising the gravity of the situation, the pilot reopened the door, declared that neither any hilsa nor any other banned item was on board, signed the ARC and returned to the cockpit. The plane finally took off around 10.30pm.

