Chinese pilot lets woman take cockpit pic; suspended as it goes viral

Chinese airline Air Guilin recently suspended one of its pilots and asked for his flight license to be canceled after he was found guilty of allowing a woman passenger into the cockpit that is off-limits for any passenger other than the crew.  According to reports, the incident took place in the month of January but came to the notice of the authorities after the passenger posted a picture of herself in the plane's cockpit on a Chinese social media website. The picture showed the passenger sitting on one pilot seat with an open tray table in front of her with a few cups on it.

Pilot violated the law

According to reports, she had thanked the pilot for the wonderful experience in her caption and had further written that it was a thrilling experience for her. The photo went viral and that prompted many people questioning how did such a security breach even happen and after receiving a lot of criticism, the woman in the picture deleted her post.

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Zero-tolerance approach

Air Guilin issued a statement in which they stated that one of their pilots had allowed a woman passenger into the plane's cockpit during a flight from Guilin to Yangzhou on January 4. Although the Chinese airline avoided answering the question about the fact that the viral photo was taken during the flight. The Airline further added that their topmost priority is to take care of their passengers and will not tolerate behavior that violates the guidelines set by the airline company.

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Reportedly, eight officials faced disciplinary action by the CAAC(Civil Aviation Administration of China). The general manager in charge of flight operations also faced disciplinary action and was removed from his post and the chairman of the Airline was given a stern warning in relation to the questionable decision taken by the pilot. 6 of the other officials who were scrutinized were slapped with a demerit in their record. Also, the woman in the picture could face a 5 day detention period and a fine of 2000 yuan.

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