First-timer booked for flight fiasco

Passengers open emergency exit while Deccan flight was parked on tarmac

A flight to Delhi, already rescheduled by a day, returns to Mumbai as there is heavy fog in the national capital. Angry passengers refuse to alight and the airline switches off lights and airconditioning. Meanwhile, there8217;s a commotion in which the emergency exit is opened and the escape slide is inflated. No one8217;s sure who8217;s responsible, but the one sitting next to the exit, a 17-year-old first time flier, is booked.

All this while the Deccan Aviation8217;s 6.45 pm flight, DN 657, is parked on the tarmac on January 1. And Dhiraj Malhotra, an engineering student at Narsee Monjee College Juhu from Dehradun, says he has been made a scapegoat.

Malhotra, who has been in Mumbai only for six months, was scheduled to travel on December 31 to Delhi by the low cost carrier8217;s 6 pm flight. However, due to thick fog in Delhi, the A-320 flight was rescheduled for January 1. On Monday, while the flight took off at 6:45 pm, it returned an hour later, since visibility was extremely poor in Delhi and a runway closure was expected.

8220;It is company policy to return to the base in case of poor weather conditions,8221; said an Air Deccan spokesperson.

However, once the aircraft was parked at Mumbai8217;s Chhatrapati Shivaji International Airport, only 4 passengers deplaned, while the remaining 145 8212; including Malhotra 8212; refused to leave. 8220;The air-conditioner and lights were then switched off, and a few passengers then started pushing the emergency gate,8221; Malhotra told The Indian Express. He added that since the airline doesn8217;t assign seats, he had to 8220;unfortunately8221; sit near the left hand emergency exit.

8220;People were pushing the door and I just supported the door to prevent it from falling on me,8221; Malhotra added. Pandemonium broke out as the escape slide got inflated, and passengers ultimately filed out. Malhotra said since he was the one sitting near the exit, he was blamed and made a 8220;scapegoat8221;.

8220;Our manager rushed inside the plane when he saw the emergency knob being turned. However, once the knob is turned, the process can8217;t be reversed,8221; the Air Deccan spokesperson said.

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Malhotra has been charged under Sections 336 endangering life and personal safety of others and 427 mischief causing damage of the IPC, along with section 29 acts likely to imperil safety of aircraft of the Aircraft Rules 1937, and 8220;today released on bail of Rs 5,000 by a metropolitan magistrate at the Andheri court8221;, said Senior Police Inspector Dattatraya Sidam of the Santacruz airport police station.

For now, the A-320 aircraft can only be operated with 149 passengers 8212; instead of the 180 it can accommodate 8212; since rules limit the number of passengers when only one emergency exit is usable. The aircraft will be grounded tonight for repairs, the cost of which can touch 20,000.