Air India returns to Milan after takeoff as passenger attempted to enter cockpit
A Delhi-bound Air India flight from Milan had to return to the airport in Italy almost an hour after take-off after an Indian passenger tried to enter the cockpit.
The accused identified as Gurpreet Singh and was handed over to police after landing back at Milan airport.
According to an airline spokesperson, the incident happened on August 2 when the passenger, an Indian citizen on seat 32C, tried to enter the cockpit in clear violation of aviation rule.
On landing back, AI 138, he was handed over to the local police who are probing the incident.
"The captain of the Milan-Delhi flight, which had about 250 people on board, decided to dump fuel (as it had been refuelled for the eight-hour flight to Delhi) and be light enough to return to land in Milan almost an hour after taking off from there," Air India said in its statement.
Gurpreet's action would land him in the 'no-fly-list' pending the completion of enquiry, the airline hinted.
Earlier, the 'no-fly' list included Shiv Sena MP Ravindra Gaikwad, when he assaulted an Air India staffer at the Delhi airport for not being allowed to fly business class and another Mumbai-based jeweller Birju Kishore Salla, who had created a hijack scare onboard a Jet Airways flight on October 2017, was put in the 'no-fly' category.
