Woman pilot accuses Air India commander of sexually inappropriate behaviour

MUMBAI: On May 5th, two Air India pilots based out of Delhi had come to Hyderabad for training purposes, when one of them, who is also the commander, allegedly asked the woman pilot about her sexual relations with her husband. The woman pilot claims that the commander called her to his room for the reason of "giving her some notes" after training. He then offered to take her out for dinner, following which they had gone to Chilli's restaurant, where his misbehaviour had developed.

"We went to Chilli's restaurant and this is where my ordeal started. He started telling me how depressed and unhappy he was in his married life. He went on to discuss other women in the airline and made lewd remarks on them. He also asked me how I coped with my husband living away and whether I didn't need to have sex every day. He asked me if I masturbated etc. At some point I told him that I didn't want to talk about all this and called a cab. In the half hour wait for the cab his behaviour worsened," she wrote in a written complaint which was submitted to the Air India management. She says that the situation intensified as the commander kept calling her in her room and he threatened her with messages that he would come to her room when she didn't answer. When the pilot told him that she was distraught by his behaviour, the commander allegedly said that he was providing her with "options".

The pilot claims that she never encouraged the commander and she was shocked, humiliated and scared of his actions. "I was subject to sexual harassment by Captain.... who was my instructor for CRM loft", she writes in the complaint. An Air India spokesperson has said that the airline has instigated a high level inquiry into the incident.