90 SpiceJet Pilots Barred From Flying Boeing 737 Max Planes

New Delhi: The Director-General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has barred a total of 90 SpiceJet pilots from flying the Boeing 737 Max Planes after finding them not properly trained.

In an official statement, the DGCA chief Arun Kumar said that for the moment these 90 pilots have been barred from operating the Max aircraft and they have to retrain successfully for flying the aircraft.

"Strict action against those found responsible for the lapse. The pilots will have to undergo training again, in a proper manner, on the Max simulator,'' he added.

The SpiceJet spokesperson said that 650 pilots are trained on Boeing 737 Max and the DGCA has observed the training profile of 90 pilots after which they were stopped from operating planes.

He further informed that these pilots will not be allowed for flying until they complete re-training to the satisfaction of DGCA and the remaining 560 pilots will continue their work.

It may be mentioned that the Boeing 737 Max Aircraft in India were grounded by the DGCA on 13 March 2019, 3 days after the Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max plane crash that took place near Addis Ababa.

In the 2019 plane mishap of Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max, a total of 157 passengers were killed which included 4 persons from India and following this accident the aircraft was banned for one year and three months.

However later in August 2021, the ban on the aircraft was removed after the aviation regulator of the country DGCA was satisfied with the United States-based plane manufacturer Boeing's needed software corrections.

There were some conditions before lifting the ban on the aircraft which also included the proper training of the pilots on the simulator.

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