TOKYO - Japan Airlines Corp. said Monday it has reprimanded a pilot for allowing a cabin attendant to sit in the captain's seat and pose for photographs during a flight.
The c0ckpit photo session did not affect the safety of JAL Flight 422, which was on autopilot at cruise altitude, carrying 176 passengers and 14 crew members from London to Osaka on Dec. 3, last year, airline spokeswoman Yuko Takahashi said.
The female attendant, 28, briefly sat in the captain's seat and placed her hands on the controls. The pilot, 45, encouraged her to do so after she entered the cockpit to serve him and the co-pilot soft drinks while flying above Siberia, about six hours after take off.
The incident surfaced late last year after the company was tipped off by an employee who heard the rumor, Takahashi said.
After more than two months of investigation, the airline verbally reprimanded the captain and the cabin attendant over their inappropriate act and reported the incident to the Transport Ministry in late February, Takahashi said.
The co-pilot, 34, was also reprimanded verbally for his failure to intervene.
JAL called their acts "imprudent behavior" and apologized in a statement. "We deeply regret what has happened," JAL said, promising to take steps to prevent recurrence of similar problems.
Security has gotten tighter especially after 911 incident. As such, under normal circumstance, is there any policy/regulation stating that only qualified personnel can occupy the pilot's seat (during flight) from local carriers or CAAS? And in any case, should the non flight crew (eg: cabin crew) be allowed to hold the flight yoke?
Pitot
Sad that c0ckpit visits arent really allowed anymore...
i agree with not letting anyone qualified getting on the seat during flights.
I still remember me visiting a Thai airways A310 c0ckpit during flight n the captain tilted the plane abit to the right n left although with autopilot on.
it was after 911 though.
megatron
What the JAL captain did was really against all safety regulations in aviation and he or them are lucky to get away with just a verbal warning. Training & common sense would have told hiim that it is very dangerous! If it;s other carriers, he could be demoted n had to go through another test again! or they give him a samurai sword with a white cloth. DIY! NOthing to do with the cabin crew, we don;t expect cabin crew to understand the EAP ( Emergency /Abnormal Procedures ).
It is completely a DIFFERENT issue with a flightdeck visit or 911. This security procedures was in force longtime before 911.
Imagine a non qualified person playing with the yoke or controlling the Throttles when acft is in flight? OF course the captain can disable n go Yoke priority or sidestick priority to F/O but a sudden jerk or force on the yoke or even a jerk of the KNEE will command the AP to have a manual overide & on the yoke itself , so now the cabin attendant has control. there are many buttons, like PTT ( push to talk) and Manual OVerride /Autopilot disconnect ), pushing them at wrong times could result in dire consequences that may not be recoverable w/in time. IF she really likes the feel n curvature of the STICK,got carried away n she holds or GRABS it for more than 15 seconds, she has full control n AP1 goes to her, there is nothing the F/O or AP2 can do to counter-vene, u can see this with a green arrow pointing to the captain side & a red arrow on the FO side on the side stick priority button. ( if u wan pics, I have to go n take a pic of it )..
and yes, companies has this regulations in their Admin or sec manual n you should find it in CAAS ANO.
Just my 2cts.
Ah Cek
so, the autopilot feature is being abused
megatron
Ah Cek, Not the AP, it was safety regulations & CRM that was being compromised.
Originally posted by Ah Cek:
so, the autopilot feature is being abused
Xfr8dog
Here in the US, when one of us goes to the lav, a FA will come up, primarily to latch and unlatch the door. They'll sit in the seat of whoever went out.
Ah Cek
Originally posted by megatron:
Ah Cek, Not the AP, it was safety regulations & CRM that was being compromised.