The Midair scuffle between the pilot and the cabin crew that took place on IC 884 operating Sharjah - Lucknow - Delhi on the 02/03 Oct was actually most shocking. Personally what this goes on to show is that there has been no procedure to evaluate the mental discipline of the crew at the time of the recruitment. Irrespective of whose fault I think the incident itself reflects the professionalism, experience and the maturity of the crew. I don't think the crew understood the gravity of the situation even a couple of days after the situation when the tempers have cooled down.

Talking of tempers, do you think that the air crew can be short tempered?

Well this is the thing that any airline must thoroughly evaluate before putting a crew member in uniform. And by the way most of the airlines do have very strict guideline and procedures to do this. Any one with any interest and knowledge of aviation will remember the only other known incident of midflight scuffle on a fedex DC-10 where a disgruntled employee attached the pilots midflight with a hammer in a bid to kill them and crash the aircraft. With the tempers high enough to bring the crew to blows the line was really very thin where one of the members would have picked up a knife or a fork and stabbed the other. Is there any way to judge or guarantee that they would not have done this.

It is also unclear if the commander had reported the incident at Lucknow ( first landing after the scuffle) for most feel if he had done so the flight would not have been allowed to proceed further and the CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) read out may have been retrieved. The CVR has a capacity of 2 hrs and then it respools. Looks like it was a master stroke by the commander to shield his own. The devotion to duty of the Air India crew has been evident from the fact that 250 of them reported sick for cancelling hundreds of flights over pay. The Delhi Police confirmed that the Air Hostess who lodged the complaint had confirmed injuries on her. There were also reports that the co-pilot also had injuries from the blows he got from the purser.

What the hell is the inquiry initiated by the Indian Airlines and the DGCA all about? are they trying to find out who was less guilty and who was more. In the event of an incident would that have made a difference to the number of dead. What I say may sound a bit extreme, but tell me this.

Will you send your wife or mother or daughter or any loved one on a flight where the crew can lose their tempers like a street punk ?

The reason I ask about a loved one is because if you are answering for yourself you can even be a little reckless but when answering about your family you will always make a mature decision. The reason I feel strongly about the incident is that I have spent almost 20 years in the industry and know a lot of good pilots. I have seen the kind of cool the pilots maintain at the time of the flight and the decisions that they take. Have we not heard of flights being cancelled due to the crew FTL. This is Flight Time Limitations set by the civil aviation. It is after these many hours of flight the crew is not deemed fit physically and mentally. We have all been in heated arguments which do not amount to blows. Try and remember your mental state for the 24 hrs after the argument. Right. Now imagine the mental state in that cockpit where blows have been exchanged barely 1 hr before. The crew decides to do another flight from Lucknow to Delhi. The midair fight was one thing but this decision is what should cost them their jobs.

Do comment as I feel we should talk more and more to evaluate.