Iraqi Airways Pilots Suspended After Fight in Cockpit at 37,000 Feet: Report

Iraqi Airways Pilots Suspended After Fight in Cockpit at 37,000 Feet: Report
An Iraqi Airways plane is pictured on the tarmac at Erbil Airport, in the capital of Iraq's autonomous northern Kurdish region, on Sept. 28, 2017. (Safin Hamed/AFP/Getty Images)
Jack Phillips
7/30/2018
Updated:
7/30/2018

Two Iraqi Airways pilots were suspended after an argument turned physical in the cockpit, according to reports.

The flight was going from Mashhad, Iran, to Baghdad, Iraq, with 157 passengers on board. Two pilots allegedly got into a heated argument over a food tray when the plane was 37,000 feet in the air, the Independent reported.

The co-pilot allegedly said, “Conversation with the pilot became heated because he forbade an air hostess from bringing me a meal tray, under the pretext that I hadn’t asked him for authorization,” according to the paper.

The pilot “hit and insulted [the co-pilot], prompting the arrival of a security agent,” who came to break them up, the paper reported.

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Then, once the plane landed, the two kept arguing, and “the pilot again hit and insulted” the co-pilot, the report said.

The plane landed in Baghdad without incident. None of the passengers were injured.

Iraqi Airways suspended the two pilots after the melee. “They have already been ordered to stop flying,” it said, according to Flight Global.
Jack Phillips is a breaking news reporter with 15 years experience who started as a local New York City reporter. Having joined The Epoch Times' news team in 2009, Jack was born and raised near Modesto in California's Central Valley. Follow him on X: https://twitter.com/jackphillips5
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