Medical emergency: Pilot collapses minutes before Bengaluru-Delhi flight take-off; hospitalised

MUMBAI: An Air India pilot collapsed minutes before he was to operate an early morning flight from Bengaluru to Delhi on Friday. The pilot was hospitalised and is currently stable.

A standby crew member was called in to operate the flight.AI flight 2414 was scheduled to depart at 3.05am and land in Delhi at 5.55am. After the crew change, the flight departed at 4.36am.Air India confirmed the incident. "There was a medical emergency involving one of our pilots in the early hours of July 4. As a result, the pilot was unable to operate the flight AI2414 from Bengaluru to Delhi...and was taken to a local hospital immediately.

He is currently stable but continues to be under the supervision," it said in a statement.In April, an AI Express pilot (28) died shortly after landing a Srinagar to Delhi flight. In Nov 2023, a 37-year-old Air India pilot, undergoing training, collapsed and died at Delhi airport. Three months earlier, in August, an IndiGo pilot of a Nagpur-Pune flight collapsed at the boarding gate. He was declared dead at the hospital.

The death brought focus on Flight Duty Time Limitations (FDTL)-mandatory rostering norms that lay down the maximum duty and minimum rest time for pilots to check fatigue and ensure flight safety. In April this year, Delhi high court closed a bunch of petitions filed by pilot groups and individual pilots on FDTL after DGCA assured the court of phase-wise implementation of a revised FDTL from July 1. TOI sent a query to five airlines about implementation of revised FDTL. Air India said it "confirms the successful implementation of Phase 1 of the new FDTL regulations, effective July 1, 2025".IndiGo said, "We are closely aligned with evolving regulatory requirements and continue to comply with DGCA's guidelines." None of the other airlines responded.