In the light of recent rise in incidents of unruly passengers creating ruckus on flights either engaging with co-passengers or the airline staff, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has issued an advisory to Head of Operations of all Scheduled Airlines.
In the advisory the DGCA has listed existing rules and regulations in regards to handling these unruly passengers on board and the respective responsibilities of the airline staff.
Interestingly, the DGCA has pointed out that the crew members of the airlines failed to take appropriate actions on these unruly passengers onboard the flights further stating that this has tarnished the image of air travel in different segments of the society. Categories of such mistakes on the part of the airlines were listed by the DGCA as non-action/ inappropriate action, and omission by the airlines.
What are the responsibilities of the Pilots in such cases?
DGCA has listed out that the Pilot in command is responsible for the safety of the passengers, cargo and maintenance of discipline as well as safety of the crew members apart from general operations of the flight and the aircraft safety.
What will the pilot in command do in special situations?
- The pilot in command will firstly assess the situation quickly on whether the cabin crew can control the situation
-Accordingly the pilot is command will relay this information to the airline's central control on the ground for further action
-Upon landing, as per CAR mandates, airline representative shall lodge FIR with the concerned security agency at aerodrome, to whom, the unruly passenger shall be handed over
How will an unruly passenger be handled?
Cabin crew responsibilities:
-Defuse a critical situation until it becomes clear that there is no way to resolve it through verbal communication and written notice to passenger
-Apply restraining device to be used when all conciliatory approaches have been exhausted
- As per CAR, the cabin crew is responsible for informing the passenger of the repercussion and consequences of such unruly behaviour
Responsibility of Director-in-flight Services (Cabin Safety)
-Nodal officer in Director-in-flight Services responsible for reporting any such incident in prescribed proforma given under Cabin safety circular 02/2010 to DGCA
Repercussions of non-compliance
Head of operations have been advised by the DGCA to sensitise pilots, cabin crew and Director-in-flight Services of their respective airlines on the topic of handling of unruly passenger through appropriate means under intimation to DGCA. The aviation regulator has said that noncompliance towards applicable regulations shall be dealt strictly and invite enforcement actions.
