| |

Passi Probe Nabs Top of DGCA Heap

After allegations of attaining a pilot license under “extraordinary circumstances,” Garima Passi came to public attention.

The flight school where Garima Passi had trained observed a hard landing, and determined that Passi had a disabling fear of aircrafts. Although the American Sabeena Training Centre she attended says that Passi “lacks basic aircraft control and she does not complete the gap between knowing and applying,” five days after attending a Uttrakhand training school, Passi was cleared to fly.

(We do not know if she attended the full course.)

Garima Passi quit SpiceJet airlines last month.

So how did she get a license in the first place, and how was she flying for Spicejet? It helped that her father is (or was) Director of Air Safety Northern Command?

RS Passi, the joint director of DGCA has been relieved of his duties pending probe into his role into his daughter procuring a fake pilot license.

To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.

Similar Posts

  • | | | |

    Air Arabia Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Kolkata

    Air Arabia flight G9-522 had to divert and make an emergency landing in Kolkata, India, on April 6th.

    The Airbus A320-200 plane heading from Chittagong, Bangladesh, to Sharjah, United Arab Emirates, was diverted after smoke was noticed in the cockpit.

    The plane landed safely. There were 164 passengers and 17 crew members aboard at the time; all of them remained unharmed.

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • | | | | |

    Southwest Holey Terror Just the Beginning

    What: Southwest Airlines Boeing 737-3H4 en route from Phoenix to Sacramento
    Where: Yuma International Airport, AZ
    When: 01 APR 2011
    Who: 118 aboard
    Why: A hole burst through the top of this Boeing while en route. The plane suffered decompression, descended to a safe level (when an attendant was injured) and made an emergency landing in Yuma.

    The hole has opened a witch hunt on aging Boeings in search of the kind of metal fatigue that would result in a hole during operations now that the aluminum skin has been known to separate at the lap joints, where panels are spliced together. Although the incident did not result in death, it is being taken as a “warning.” 175 Boeing 737 are slated for examination, and maintenance programs (Southwest, FAA, Boeing) are being re-evaluated to take this into account.

    Discussion of lap joint and the 3 rows of rivets. The skin separated at the lower rivet line. Pre-existing fatigue existed on the fracture surface. (Multi site damage.) The decompression happened 18.5 minutes after take-off, and no pre-indications. The flight crew immediately declared emergency.

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • | | | |

    Pintail Lodge Helicopter Crashes in Louisiana

    What: Pintail Lodge Inc.Bell 206B JetRanger
    Where: Lyons Point, Crowly, LA
    When: Oct 10, 2102
    Who: 1 fatality
    Why: A helicopter out of Texas was flying low over a Crowly Louisiana field when it made contact with a KSIG radio guidewire.

    The helicopter subsequently crashed in the field. Local residents who heard the impact described a thud.

    The pilot was identified as Hugh Clifton Kelley, 66, of Beaumont.

    See Video Below
    KiiiTV3.com South Texas, Corpus Christi, Coastal Bend

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • | | | | |

    Octogenarian Lands Plane Beside Unconscious Pilot/Spouse

    What: C And S Manufacturing Corp Cessna 414A en route from Marco Island, Collier County, Florida to Cherryland Airport in Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin
    Where: Wisconsin
    When: April 2,2012
    Who: 2 aboard
    Why: After her husband John passed out at the controls of their Cessna, eighty-one year old Helen Collins took some quick lessons “on the fly” and managed to land the plane, with minor damage.

    Air Traffic Control talked to her until pilot instructor Robert Vuksanovic took his plane up to fly by her as he coached her down. The distress call came at 5:05 pm. after Collins was three hours in flight from Marco Island, Florida. On landing, Helen and her husband John were hospitalized; John was declared dead at 6:38 p.m. Helen had back pain, minor bumps and bruises and a broken rib, but her son Richard Collins did not lose both of his parents that day.

    A heroic effort from ATC, Collins and flight instructor Robert Vuksanovic.

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • | | | |

    IndiGo Flight Makes Emergency Landing in Ahmedabad

    IndiGo flight 6E-6373 made an emergency landing in Ahmedabad, India, on January 1st.

    The Airbus A320-200 plane flying from Delhi, India, was descending toward Ahmedabad when the crew reported smoke in the cockpit and cabin.

    The plane landed uneventfully. All passengers and crew members remained safe.

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.
  • | | | | | |

    Investigation On for Air Asia Indonesia Airbus A320-200, PK-AXC, flight QZ-8501

    It is good to hear the journalists being corrected here, because this incident does not yet seem to resemble the Air France or Malaysia Airlines events. Perhaps the journalists did not closely follow the excruciating Air France 447 search–YEARS spent scouring the Atlantic for the wreckage–long after initial debris and was found. So early in this investigation, journalists should be warning the world that EVERYTHING is speculation at this point.

    What is not speculation?

    • The pilots requested to deviate around bad weather, right before contact ceased.
    • The last radio contact was at 06:16 local time.
    • Transponder contact was lost at 06:18 local time.
    • The captain had a total of 20,537 flying hours, 6100 hours of which were for Indonesia Air Asia.
    • The first officer had 2,275 hours with Indonesia Air Asia.
    • The crew was mostly French, so the BEA will be investigating. (Countries which have nationals aboard normally participate in the investigation.) The passengers’ list of nationalities has changed several times but currently the passengers aboard were allocated as follows: 155 Indonesian, 3 S. Korean, 1 Malaysian, 1 French, 1 British and 1 Singaporean. Some may hold multiple citizenships.
    • A number of countries are contributing to the investigation, including Indonesia, Singapore, and the BEA. The USA and Australia have also offered to assist. 12 Indonesian navy ships, five planes, three helicopters and a number of warships were talking part, along with ships and planes from Singapore and Malaysia.
    • Indonesia’s Ministry of Transport published the load sheet. (See below.)


    The search is being hindered by weather, visibility and the fact that it is currently night-time. Unlike Air France 447, the plane was being tracked by a local navy base so it was not completely off radar; unlike MH370, the area it seems to have disappeared seems to be known in real time and not hours after the fact. We have not yet heard if the beacon is audible, but IT IS STILL TOO EARLY To MAKE ASSUMPTIONS. Let’s let the investigation tell the story, rather than rampant theorizing. The Java sea where the plane lost contact is shallower than where Malaysia Airlines flight 370 appears to have gone down. Unlike MH370, nothing by INMARSAT is being tracked aboard the missing Airbus.

    Let’s wait and see what the investigation finds, and in the meantime, pray for the families of those aboard.

    Read More about Air Asia 8501

    To include the featured image in your Twitter Card, please tap or click their icon a second time.