New Delhi, Sep 12 (IANS) An Air India pilot died due to cardiac arrest while he was on a layover rest at a hotel in the national capital, a Tata Group airline statement said on Saturday.
Air India said it was deeply saddened by the passing of a cockpit crew member in Delhi on Friday night.
“He was on a layover rest at a hotel in Delhi, where he was found unconscious last evening. He was rushed to the hospital immediately, where he was declared dead,” the airline statement said.
The officials said the pilot, who was earlier with Air India Express, was undergoing conversion training for operating wide-body Boeing 787 aircraft.
Air India said it is in close touch with the pilot’s family and is extending all support at this time of grief.
The Mumbai-based pilot was found unconscious at the hotel on Friday evening and was immediately taken to a hospital, where he was declared dead. He had earlier worked with Air India Express and moved to Air India a couple of months ago. He was scheduled to operate a flight early on Saturday morning.
On Friday evening, the pilot’s brother contacted the hotel manager after he failed to respond to his calls. The manager went to the room, which was locked from the inside, and opened it using the hotel’s master key. The pilot was found unconscious and unresponsive inside.
According to Delhi Police, a PCR call was received at the Vasant Kunj North police station on Friday regarding the ill health of a guest at a hotel in the area.
Police reached the hotel and found the pilot unconscious and unresponsive. He was shifted to a hospital, where he was declared “brought dead”.
Air India Express operates a narrow-body fleet consisting of Boeing 737 aircraft (including the 737 MAX) alongside Airbus A320 family jets, and does not operate the wide-body Boeing 787 for its own core low-cost operations.
The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body, single-aisle jet for short routes, while the Boeing 787 is a wide-body, twin-aisle jet built for long-haul international flights.
Boeing requires a completely separate type rating and training programme for each distinct aircraft family, meaning pilots cannot simply transition without full retraining on simulators and systems.
Pilots must adjust to a much larger flight deck, different handling characteristics, higher vantage points during taxiing, and different landing flare techniques.
–IANS
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