Click to play videoNew Delhi: Kerala MP P V Abdul Wahab on Sunday told CNN-IBN he will not apologise to a pilots' union, which accuses him of abusing a pilot and endangering a flight last week.
“I have done what I thought was right. I will not apologise to the pilot community or the civil aviation department because I haven’t done anything wrong,” he said during the telephonic interview.
Reiterating his earlier statement Wahab stated he never entered the cockpit, and suggested that cameras be installed inside the cockpit to prevent such situations from arising.
“I want to make a suggestion to Praful Patel that cameras should be installed inside the cockpit so that whatever is happening inside the cockpit can be monitored,” he said. “Doing this will assure that this sort of an accusation against any MP does not arise again in the future.”
The Indian Commercial Pilots Association (ICPA) is planning to sue Wahab for defamation for allegedly calling a pilot a “glorified driver” and “endangering flying operations”. They have also threatened to blacklist him from flying domestic airlines unless he apologises.
Wahab, a prominent businessman and Rajya Sabha MP, was forced to get off a Kozhikode-Kochi flight while he was en route to Dubai on April 7 after an argument with flight captain Rajat Rana.
Wahab plans to move a privilege motion in Parliament against Rana.
The ICPA has, in turn, accused Wahab of conducting a "serious" breach of security norms and endangering the flight.
Rana alleged Wahab had breached an air safety rule which says: "No person shall interfere with the commander or with members of the operating crew of an aircraft or tamper with the aircraft or its equipments or conduct himself in a disorderly manner with the passengers or crew."
“If he will not apologise, we will go to IFALPA — the umbrella body of all the pilots in the world — which may lead to him being barred to travel in any airline in the world,” ICPA president Captain Kapil Rana said.
IANS adds the incident took place at the Kozhikode airport on Monday when Wahab with his wife boarded Air India flight to Dubai.
The pilots accused the airport manager for delaying the aircraft and also held the MP responsible for it. This resulted in a verbal altercation between the pilot and the MP.
The pilot refused to fly with the MP on board. The pilot said the flight would not take off if the MP did not leave the plane.
According to reports, the plane’s arrival at Kozhikode was already delayed before it could take off for Dubai.
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