The Cheap Indian Life,Pilot Community in India and future of Indian Aviation

#BoycottAirAsia was trending on Twitter for a full day and it was not without reason. A ‘celebrity’ pilot Capt.Gaurav Taneja, going by the name the Flying Beast, decided to stand up and say ‘enough is enough’. Nobody gets up one morning and decides ‘enough is enough’ and therefore it is important to know what happened behind the scenes.

The Background Story

If you know Indian Aviation, all this looks routine. Capt. Gaurav decides it’s time for a change and moves from his employer of 8 odd years and joins ‘Air Asia India’ (AA). Its common knowledge that it takes time for people to get adjusted to the new set of Rules and the reason for the success of private companies itself lies in this periodic movement. The new people spot sticky issues faster and gives an opportunity for the organisation to look at certain of its policies closer. So right from the word go, Capt.Gaurav was flagging issues. He flagged issue related to sick leaves, Fatigue and then some exchanges were going on as regards a few safety issues. Everyone knows the dearth for ‘captains’ in the Indian Aviation industry and therefore, it was common for companies to cajole the captains and retain them whatever be the causes. This uneasy relationship exists across Indian Aviation and it is no secret. However, the Virus was soon going to change the face of Aviation, but no one knew how severe it was going to be. You might have seen the stories of a pilot moving out of Cockpit windows and refusing to use exit. A series of events happened with Capt.Gaurav and in his ‘voyage report’ (Flight Report), he wrote that the company was in violation of DGCA Circular on Covid 19 norms. The Series of events and non-compliance with DGCA guidelines were good enough to cause good stress and it would have been extremely dangerous to undertake flying Duties. Capt.Gaurav called in fatigued and this rubbed off some persons in the management who were already jealous of Capt.Gaurav’s success on Social Media. The jealousy was not on the success but on the assumption of Capt.Gaurav making tons of money. The bloodbath in aviation caused by Covid 19 started to show up. Captains became cost centers for Aviation companies. Terminating them would have been a costly affair thanks to DGCA’s own CAR on Notice Period. This triggered show cause notice to be sent to Capt.Gaurav. This was around 4th of May and the same was replied to by him by 6th of May in detail. I was not yet in the picture and whatever reply was given was Capt.Gaurav’s own words and his own reply. On 30 May, another show cause notice was issued for the same three trivial reasons: 1) Missing in Action (MIA) 2) Wearing of Uniform while he left Delhi to reach Kanpur to be with his elderly parents and his 2 yr old kid. 3) Authorisation Letter issued by company.

On 31 May 2020, I get a call from Capt.Gaurav. This is the first time he is giving me a call and I am not even aware of who this person is. I often get calls from pilots on legal issues. Earlier, in the name of Aviation Safety, I used to do their work for free but after the bad experience with this community, I don’t even read papers without being paid. After reading, if I find the issue is genuine and the pilot is standing up, I do take up the matter at a drastically discounted fees and this fees is just to ensure ‘nothing is free’. Doing anything free takes away its value and that is what I learnt from this Pilot Community. Capt.Gaurav wanted my help to reply the second show cause notice. I told him it was routine and there is no point fighting over trivial issue. But I was told that they were trying to suppress safety issues. That caught my attention, I looked into the materials and there were certainly Safety issues. However, I told Capt.Gaurav that there is no point fighting Airline company and if they have decided to fix you, they will fix you. The cost he would pay to fight back would be immense. I told him that he should fight it only if he is willing to start with the idea that his career itself is jeopardised as I very well knew how the system worked. I told him to sleep over it than have a knee jerk reaction. I was surprised when he called up next day and informed me of his decision to stand up. Even, at this point in time, I was not even aware of his Celebrity status. He made the payment and I decided to reply to the SCN. While I discount his professional fee payment, it is with express understanding that I will be free to take up the Aviation Safety issue with or without him. Many a times lawyers end up with clients who have a specific need and the client may be unwilling to take up larger issues which affect the society in general. Capt.Gaurav was very clear, its not about jobs alone, its about lives too. Lives of millions of passengers. I was happy that atleast one pilot decided to stand up, he understood the ‘human factors’ in accidents and he was willing to give up his career for the sake of people he didn’t know. It was the most refreshing change I had seen in any pilot in my last 10 years of fighting for Aviation Safety, Fighting for the lives of people they didn’t know.

I replied to the SCN and I tweeted on the Safety issue. In the past I had tweeted on safety issues related to almost all airlines in India. Air Asia India never caught my attention and I believed they do take care of safety because the TATA group had a large share in it. What surprised me was Air Asia sends me a ‘Cease & Desist’ Notice. I didn’t waste a single minute and immediately replied to the notice in a span of 2-3 hours and made it public and this clearly told me something. Air Asia is hiding something. If AA has nothing to hide, it will not try to silence me. Why else would they be worried about me tweeting when I had less than 300 followers and my tweets were seldom replied to or retweeted by people whom I can count with fingers in one hand.

The fire on Social Media

Capt.Gaurav posted his vlog on the issues with AA and the Social Media (SM) was on fire. That is the first time I looked at who my client was. For the first time, I even understood the madness that SM was. For me, until now, Linkedin was to put up professionally relevant information, FaceBook was for my friends (recently, I checked out all unknown friends and kept it as a place for my friends alone) and Twitter was the art of articulation to put up opinions and information. I have not tried Instagram and don’t intend to because these 3 alone keep me entertained enough.

The 3 million subscribers of Capt.Gaurav set the SM on fire. For the first time many people even came to know how seriously their lives were endangered. The DGCA was forced to come out with a statement saying the issue is under investigation. Air Asia also had the opportunity to come clean by making a statement, but they decided not to address any of the Safety issues and their own act hurt them and this also meant that there was so much pushed under the carpet.

SAFETY ISSUES

Capt.Gaurav never said Flap 3 is unsafe, he said, it was the Captain’s choice. The AA e-mail sent to Capt.Gaurav said he used Flap 3, 71% of times as against company’s target of 98%. The company is clearly aware of which are the three airports he didn’t use Flap 3. Twice at Imphal (with a 3.5 glide slope, hilly terrain it is extremely dangerous to ever use flap 3 as it takes fraction of seconds for climatic conditions to change) and once at Bagdogra. Of the 7 flap 3 landings, one was at Bagdogra. This clearly means that when the conditions permit, Capt.Gaurav used Flap 3. The e-mail exchanges between Capt.Gaurav and AA Management pilots is brutal thereafter. It is a clear sign of pilots hounded to use Flap 3 irrespective of safety concerns. That is extremely dangerous conduct and had we learnt the lessons from Mangalore Crash, this kind of conduct cannot be approved by either the DGCA or AA.

After this, I started getting e-mails. Another issue that I raised was based on one of these e-mails. It was about discretionary fuel. The DGCA CAR, the AA policy all stated that fuel was purely the discretion of the Pilot in Command (PIC). Then there was an e-mail from the Head of Operations Capt.Manish Uppal which stated that the PIC has to give proper justification to the Dispatcher, the details has to be written and the same will be reviewed by Flight Operations. The next line assured the pilots that in case of any issue, the responsibility would that be of the Flight Operations Management. How will an e-mail take away the PIC’s responsibility in case of an Issue? The Pilot operates on the basis of a licence issued by the DGCA and the pilots have to follow DGCA CAR’s and not Company policy.

So many e mails followed and AA policy in Malaysia / Thailand all pointed at one thing: OBSESSION TO SAVE FUEL. AA’s Obsession was crossing the redline and I was enraged because I flew AA along with my family paying a lot more than another airline which I had decided not to fly because of safety concerns. Had I had this information, I would never have flown AA that too with my family. An aviation safety expert used data from a website to calculate the landings of AA at Imphal for the month of June and the results were scary. The DGCA can take its own sweet time to investigate, but it has SAFETY as its core responsibility. What interim measures did DGCA give AA? For even suspected Safety violation, the Pilot is suspended pending inquiry in violation of Rules? Then why is DGCA treating this differently? I have sent an e-mail to DGCA asking for two immediate interim measures, I am waiting this week to see if they do order and on its failure, I will file a police complaint because that act clearly endangers life.

What happened in Mangalore?

For the ones who aren’t aware of what happened in Mangalore, The aircraft having continued with unstabilised approach was gliding over the runway for about 500-800 ft. This was raising questions with the investigators as to why did this happen. They found the answer, it was a counselling session to the PIC for hard landing. If the investigators were to write this as a reason, Air India would have been in trouble, so they decided to write that it was not a contributing factor to the accident. However, it was so obvious that the investigators were worried about this conduct from the Airline Management. Therefore, in the recommendations, the COI recommended

“In view of a number of points raised by Operators and Participants during the Public Hearings, DGCA needs to clearly and unambiguously bring out the limits, which do not warrant any Operational Incident Reports (OIR) to be raised or punitive action to be initiated against the pilot for following incidents:

a)   Hard landing.

b)   Go Around.

CAR, Section-5, Series ‘F’ Part II, Issue I dated 13th September 1999 needs to

be amended to remove any ambiguity regarding the exceedence limits.”

AA was involving itself in one of such similar conduct as regards Flap 3 landings. Its policy on Discretionary fuel was outright violation of DGCA CAR. Its obsession with Fuel could turn fatal anytime. Many a times, experts pointed out there have been virtually no accidents caused by ‘fuel emergency’. In Lucknow, Air Vistara landed with just about 200 kg of Fuel, In Trivandrum, Jet Airways landed with just about same amount of fuel, not sure how much fuel was Available to Air Canada while it landed in HYD when its PIC declared Mayday. For these people, these could be small issues but how  I see it is 200 x 3 people being one minute away from a certain death!!!!

Violation of COVID 19 Guidelines of the DGCA

On 23 March 2020, Capt.Gaurav in his ‘voyage report’ specifically wrote that AA did not comply with DGCA Guidelines on Covid 19. Everyone saw the video of a pilot exiting from cockpit window than the exit door. The pilots and crew working were much more aware of the dangers of the virus at that time than the common man. It caused tremendous stress to them. AA was so negligent in complying with laws as well as taking care of its operating personnel. Capt.Gaurav while responding to the notice of 4 May 2020, so clearly and in detail had written about it in his explanation as to why he reported Fatigued. Those reasons are solid and a pilot is the final judge of his own fatigue. If the pilot calls in fatigue, you don’t ask why? Here he gave a set of reasons. Now AA is on a smear campaign saying Capt.Gaurav takes lot of sick leaves and calls in fatigued. Capt.Gaurav has not taken one extra sick leave than what he is entitled for. He has volunteered to fly aircraft on short notice on many occasions.

AIR ASIA’s Big Problems

AA issued 2 SCN for the same 3 issues. Later in the suspension they also stated that Capt.Gaurav violated ‘Communications policy’ and for this not even a SCN has been given till date. They served an inquiry notice and appointed their own ‘employees’ as the inquiry committee. They clearly stated in the notice that Capt.Gaurav has to answer the charges levelled against him. This clearly shows how much AA cares for the laws of the Country. Had they even taken the help of a plant manager of any of TATA’s factory, they would have been advised better on how to comply with labour laws as regards disciplinary proceedings. None of the issues shown in the SCN is good enough for a termination. Such a termination will certainly be challenged.

AA’s is now digging up the past of Capt.Gaurav. They can dig as much as they want, but now they have already decided what the core is, adding anything new will have to be explained because the easiest explanation to any additional charges is ‘victimisation’. Capt.Gaurav raised serious safety issues, he stood up and now AA has to get back at him at any cost.

What this fight means for the Pilot Community in India?

I have been fighting on Aviation Safety for 10 years. The Passengers are so scattered that not many are bothered to fight for it. The pilots are one community that is directly affected. Surprisingly, this community has been silent. Towards, the end of 2017, I went to the Delhi High Court questioning the DGCA CAR on FDTL and this is the first time I came in touch with this community. I raised about 20 lakhs through crowd funding and most of it was from this community. Nobody thought I could succeed in it, but I not just succeeded but did it in good time. On April 18, 2019 the Delhi High Court Ordered the DGCA to come out with a new CAR. However, the pilot community turned against me when I had a spat with a few on their educational background. Most pilots are 10+2 pass and they were far away from reality and were flying too high because of the salary they earned. Their ego’s was simply too big. Even if I still had a majority of pilots still standing by me, they were all silent. Silence is criminal when duty is to speak up. I lost my respect for the community and I knew it then and there that they are all dying a slow death. Covid 19 now has finished this community if not for ever, atleast for next 5-10 years.  Why I am saying this is because I was also keenly watching how the community is looking up at the issues raised by Capt.Gaurav.

One person going by twitter handle @Flying Mariner has been vociferous on Capt.Gaurav. He claims to be a pilot with 14,000 hrs. He has attacked Capt.Gaurav and me and yet never could give an explanation as to what was wrong about the issue flagged by Capt.Gaurav. The best part of Flying Mariner is that in the past he was proud to say that he was doing duties beyond the prescribed limits. He also tweeted a video of Capt. Panesar in which he says DGCA is a corrupt and incompetent body. So from the conduct of this one, he will raise voices only against aspects he is not comfortable with and not issues his co-workers face. The pilots are one of the most selfish people I have come across. Flying Mariner may or may not be engaged by AA, but from his own conduct it is clear that he is unwilling to stand up for a fellow pilot even if that fellow pilot raised genuine issues.

Another Capt. Sabu Sivaraman posted on FaceBook as to incompetence of Capt.Gaurav. Since, I knew Capt.Sabu I asked him if his comments were fair because Capt.Gaurav never said Flap 3 is unsafe, all he said was that the pilot had the authority of what flap to use. Capt.Sabu tells me that he made a general comment and I send him the picture of another comment made by a person and Sabu’s reply to it. Capt.Sabu pulled down the entire thread. But the damage was done. I never forced Sabu, I just asked him the right questions. Capt.Sabu is a pilot with 30 yrs of experience and can easily be an opinion maker. However, he had made his opinion based on incorrect facts and he went public with it hurting the cause of his fellow pilot which was clearly genuine.

There is another Social Media pilot by the name Boeing Boy. He is also working for AA. He came out with a video explaining Flap 3. Good technical video. Anyone watching that will think the issue is so simple, but what is hidden is more than what is shown. If the issue was so simple and to be explained by Landing Distance Available (LDA), all airports in India are perfectly safe for a Flap 3 landing!!! The truth is that a Flap 3 landing in Mumbai during monsoons is a risky affair. No pilot approves of this video, but no one will speak up. Everyone are dearly holding on to their Jobs.

There were a few ‘bigwigs’ & ‘veterans’ who joined the party probably because AA either engaged them or they had some interest in Air Asia. One, Sanjiv Kapoor was trying hard. He just happened to be an ex-employee of SpiceJet and Vistara and probably currently eyeing the post of COO at Air Asia. Capt.Shakti Lumba also gave his comments but the only place they got caught was when Capt.Pankaj Muralidass, a Hub Captain of AA was pushing his pilots to troll me.

The many comments on Social Media by the pilots were all about their own interests, their own ego’s and none on to the issue. This is a clear indication as to how this group would think or function. They know only one way of functioning and it is called the SELFISH MODE. I was advocating a single pilot’s union for a brief while and today I can tell you with authority, Indian pilots are incapable of forming a union. Even if they form, it will be not for general interests of each other but personal agenda of the ones running it. Union, to be a success, has to be a very disciplined body, its rules need to be followed and this is never going to happen with this community. Indian Crabs will have better chances against a group of Indian pilots!!!

The Role of the DGCA

The DGCA is the Regulator. Everyone who is involved with Airline industry knows who they are and their reality. As for me, I describe them as ‘terrorists’. Terrorists kill and they act accordingly. Why I call DGCA terrorists is for a very simple reason. The Indian penal code while defining murder in Sec. 300 of the IPC states “If the person committing the act knows that it is so imminently dangerous that it must, in all probability, cause death or such bodily injury as is likely to cause death, and commits such act without any excuse for incurring the risk of causing death or such injury as aforesaid”. The DGCA is very clearly aware of the consequences of their act. They know a fatigued pilot can cause death and yet they come out with an FDTL CAR that is so onerous on the Pilot, they know an ill-equipped airport can cause death and yet they give licences to those airports and then declare 11 of them to be critical Airfields (something that has no definition anywhere), they know an aircraft that is not maintained properly can cause death (the spicejet technician who died while on duty at Kolkatta Airport and such a thing could never have happened if they had followed rules. It was so clear that there was not even another person around when this technician died a silent violent death) and yet they approve all such acts. They in fact, are hand in gloves with the operator and always take care of the commercial aspect than on safety.

For eg. The DGCA CAR on Breath Analyser (BA) is a greatest example of such a behaviour. The DGCA by its policy says not a drop of alcohol in the blood. Very good, extremely good policy, nothing wrong with it. Now let’s see how it is implemented. It says the pilot must undergo pre-flight BA for domestic flight and post flight BA for international flight. It also says that a pilot can fly without a BA test but will be grounded on landing. Now lets analyse what it is? Once you decide a policy why not uniformly implement it. why post flight for international and pre-flight for India? Getting tests in international locations is expensive so why make the operator spend unnecessarily. The DGCA can easily ensure no aircraft goes airborne without its pilots doing the BA, yet it allows it and punishes the pilot. Why can’t it simply ensure no aircraft is airborne without its pilots doing the BA Test?  What if the pilot is drunk and crashes. The DGCA goes under an assumption that an aircraft will land safely on a post flight BA or a missed BA. I asked this question in a writ filed before Goa Bench of High Court of Bombay. The DGCA reply was “the onus of providing BA facilities is on the Operator and the Onus of undergoing the test is on the pilot”. Where is the onus on safety? DGCA completely forgets that the onus of safety is on DGCA. There is a pilot who filed a written complaint when his head asked him in writing to fly without undergoing BA. The DGCA is yet to act against the post holder and they are sitting on it for last one year. So, this is DGCA in short for you. Nothing for safety, everything is for operators. DGCA cares nothing for the lives of Millions of Air passengers who believe DGCA is doing its Duty. They seldom know that everytime they are on an aircraft, they are playing a round of Russian Roulette.

Even in Capt.Gaurav’s case I don’t expect the DGCA to look at safety. DGCA will think of ways to save AA and its unsafe practices. DGCA will collude with the AA. I will not be surprised if the DGCA decides to go after Capt.Gaurav’s licence itself. It may go a lot further. The DGCA, Airports Authority, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Air India all of them being government run are running a scam in aviation and people are not aware. Unlike other scams, this is not a scam that is just costing the State its revenues, but this is a scam that endangers life and in the past has cost lives. Take for eg. The Mangalore Air crash that killed 158, the Ghatkoper Crash that killed 5.

In Airports Authority of India, there was a lady officer Ms.Mangala Narasimhan. She just stood up like Capt.Gaurav. She was terminated, her husband was suspended. There was a cabin crew in Air India who stood up, he was terminated. There was a pilot in Air India who stood up, he was terminated. This is how the Ministry of Civil Aviation deals with people who stand up for safety and I do not expect anything different this time. I call this the organised mafia. Organised crime is considered very dangerous and if it is the State, then its even more dangerous. One thing I guarantee now is that each of these persons who stood up will be known one day and that day is not far. Indian Aviation will soon see catastrophe hitting it. All this while the DGCA, MoCA and everyone have been patting their own backs saying there has been no accidents. “As you sow, so shall you reap” is an old adage and the DGCA / MoCA are just about to reap. Though I was saying the next one is just around the corner, a friend of mine told me it wasn’t going to be restricted to one. It is going to be a series. It is going to be like a compounded interest.

An Opportunity

As far as I am concerned, this is a great opportunity. If at all anyone can fight this blatant violation of law, it is the people. How will it reach the people? Did anyone notice the silence of the mainstream media, the Print and electronic. So we need to first accept and agree that we cannot bank on the media to make our skies safer. Its not that all journalists are compromised, some are, some are not. Some editors are, some editors are not, but in the system there is a compromise at many different levels and that explains the silence of media on such an important issue.

The greatest opportunity lies in trial courts. I have moved High Courts on many occasions. High Courts being Writ Courts, the scope of exposing is much lesser. It is the trial court that provides you with that opportunity. You can lead evidence, examine witness etc. I tried to reach trial court many times and each time my efforts were cut short. First, I filed a private complaint before the magistrate as regards Mangalore Air Crash. I had some success as the magistrate took cognizance under Sec. 304A. However, on technicality under Sec.197 of the Cr.P.C, the High Court of Karnataka stayed the matter and I just completed final arguments in that court in Feb 2020 and the Judgment is reserved. The second attempt was at the labour court where I was pursuing the claims of the Pilot who was killed in Mangalore Air Crash. When Air India said that negligence caused the accident, I asked Air India to take the plea of ‘Contributory Negligence’, but to my surprise, Air India waived that right. Had they not waived, I would have got my opportunity to examine Air Marshal B.N.Gokhale, the author of the COI Report on Mangalore. Then on the FDTL issue, I filed a complaint with Lodhi Road Police Station. That complaint was not even registered as an FIR by the police and for me to go to a Magistrate is too expensive considering I have to be in Delhi innumerable times. But I will certainly take it up at the right time. Then there was a complaint I registered in 2016 at Sahar Police Station in Mumbai which I have now raised up in a PIL on Ghatkoper Plane crash. I filed another complaint in Ghatkoper Police station on Ghatkoper plane crash and that is also not registered as a FIR.

Trial courts give a great opportunity to expose issues during proceedings. You can produce documents, call for witnesses etc and this is the opportunity I am looking forward to. Air Asia, even if it is a labour issue, there is enough issues raised on safety that it becomes relevant issue. I get the freedom to produce documents I have got, authenticate it by calling witnesses, DGCA officers cannot hide behind any legal protection. I can call for documents from AA as well as DGCA. My only concern is whether they will scuttle even this opportunity. What if they simply invoke the simple right to terminate and pay for notice period? They have every right to do so and there is no legal challenge I can set up against it.

This battle is not just about Air Asia or DGCA, because the problem is not arising merely because of a company policy or a corrupt Regulator. The problem arises because of a general lack of integrity. Who makes policies in a company, its pilots. The ones who climb the dirty corporate ladder and reach management positions. The CEO's generally are unaware of such technicalities. Take For eg. Sunil Bhaskaran. He doesn't know head or tail about aviation. Management pilots make policies, show profits and fill up their pockets. This is one fight where the role of these management pilots need to be exposed. how they knowingly, willfully and deliberately endanger lives just to earn a few brownie points. This doesn't mean you let the CEO go Scot free. The buck stops at his table. once he is informed, it is his job to get independent impartial people advice him on technicalities and he cleans up the mess. Capt.Gaurav is in this fully being aware of his risks, but if there is anything that is going to happen to him, a price has to be paid by Capt.Mukesh Nema, Capt.MAnish Uppal, Capt.Pankaj Muraleedass, Capt.Vikram reymond, Capt.Pranav sood etc for their specific roles. if its just the AA and Capt.Gaurav who pays the price, the issue will never be solved. These captains also should pay the price equally so as to bring some sanity into Indian Aviation.

Air Asia is not a simple case. It is a dirty case involving so many things. Its not a fuel policy. It’s that dirty corporate politics. I have documents with me because the Chief of Flight Safety and Head of Operations are in two groups fighting each other internally. Many documents came my way, but as of now its useless. It becomes useful in a trial when you can confront a witness and authenticate a document. I was stunned to hear the stories on recruitment, the bonus payments etc and what I cannot stand is the cheapness of corruption. Gifts of watches worth a few lakhs is good enough to dole out crores? Did they have the slightest concern for the passenger’s life? The lesser said, the better. My blood is boiling.

How Covid 19 has changed Aviation dangerous for the passengers

Aviation always involved risks. As a passenger you take calculated risk. If you see the Indian situation, there is no aviation parameter that is in the green. Everything is in red. The breakneck speed with which aviation grew did not change the infrastructure required. The result is threat to safety. So far the biggest buffer has been the PILOT. Now what covid 19 has done is killed this Buffer. The morale of the pilot is the lowest. The captains who took home salaries of 7-10 lakhs would be lucky to take home 2-3 lakhs. The situation of first officers is pathetic. The training bonds remain the same, the salaries probably cut by 50-70%. The management is telling its pilots take it or leave it. If they take it, their situation is worse than bonded labour. Family issues, EMI’s, Litigation and hundreds of things that is going to add to the stress of pilots. The first officers are in worse situation where they have to think about even the homes mortgaged by their parents to make them pilots. The level of stress kills this buffer and I have decided that I am not going to fly at all at least for a year from now. I will assess the situation after an year and decide for myself if I will fly or not. Better late than never, so even if the train or bus take a little longer, its better to use those modes than risk your life flying.

Truth & Justice require no crutches

I worked in fortune 500 companies. Mangalore changed my priorities. I took full time into Aviation Safety. I know the society doesn’t have great opinions about lawyers. While I dealt with Mangalore Air Crash as a lawyer, I understood one thing. A lawyer is not just someone who has to manage legalities, he has to manage pain too. Death and failures in business bring bad memories along and every client meeting I have been extremely sensitive about this pain. I do not have clients who have issues with money, but then I realised these clients cannot buy happiness or peace with money. My perspective on life itself changed. You need money to survive, it cannot buy you peace and happiness. The only person you are answerable is your conscience, nothing or nobody else matters.

While I succeeded in the building obstacle cases, I was offered money I would never make for the rest of my life working. But that image of the fireman with the lifeless body of a little girl will never allow me to touch that money. I was threatened. I was afraid, but only momentarily. That crude language will make anyone fear. Then you learn to overcome fear. You realise courage is not absence of fear, but the ability to manage fear. I call a spade a spade. I called out the corrupt irrespective of their power or position, I called out the media without worrying about what they could do, I exposed the air operators, I pissed off the pilot community. I never once thought about support because my fight is mine alone. If I decide to fight on the strength of someone else, then my fight is not worth fighting.

Indian Aviation is in critical condition. Covid 19 will ensure the holes in cheese slice will be aligned faster. Whether anyone agrees with me or not, I am certain about one thing. There will be a catastrophe in Indian Aviation that will shake the world. It could involve Indian airspace or Indian carriers. That will be the day my work will be recognised irrespective of the fact that Airline companies are against me, the Media is against me, the Pilot community is against me, the State is against me. I am not waiting for that Day, but because everyone else failed to stand up, that day is a certainty.