Pilot grounded for wrongly sending hijack code

Aviation regulator DGCA Friday suspended an AirAsia India pilot for a period of three months for erroneously transmitting the ''hijack code'' to the Air Traffic Services during a Delhi-Srinagar flight on June 9, sources said.

"As one of the engines had stalled at this I5-715 flight of AirAsia India, the first officer (pilot) was supposed to transmit the emergency code 7700 to Air Traffic Services (ATS) authorities. Instead, he erroneously ''squawked'' the hijack code 7500 to ATS," the sources told PTI.

According to the sources, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued a show-cause notice to the pilot in the matter on June 28.