Vistara Fined Rs 10 Lakh After Pilot Lands Plane Without Training

First officers are trained to land aircraft in simulators before being allowed to do it with an actual aircraft that has passengers on board.

India's aviation regulator has fined Air Vistara Rs 10 lakh for violating safety regulations. The airline has been fined by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) for letting an improperly trained pilot land a flight at Madhya Pradesh's Indore airport with passengers on board.

The pilot, who was the first officer on the flight, landed the aircraft at the Indore airport recently without first getting the requisite training in a simulator, they said. "This was a serious violation endangering lives of the passengers on board," an official said.

First officers are trained to land aircraft in simulators before being allowed to do it with an actual aircraft that has passengers on board. A captain is also similarly trained in a simulator before they can give landing instructions to the first officer.