State-run carrier Air India said Saturday it had suspended a pilot and two female flight attendants after a passenger jet's autopilot system was accidentally switched off "due to distraction".




There was an "overstay of the cabin crew in the cockpit," the airline said, and "due to distraction the co-pilot had touched the autopilot disconnect button momentarily, but the same was connected back".

The airline did not reveal the nature of the distraction but the Times of India newspaper quoted an unnamed Air India source as saying the crew members' actions had "made a mockery of air safety".

Indian media reports alleged the pilots were giving the flight attendants flying lessons.

"At no point of time was the cockpit left unattended by the cockpit crew," the airline statement added.

Earlier this year, Air India suspended a senior pilot caught drunk just before he was to fly a passenger aircraft. Also in the last few years, authorities have discovered at least half a dozen Indian pilots flying aircraft using faked documents, including an Air India pilot.

Air India is the country's fourth-largest airline by market share and has been hit hard by rising fuel prices and fierce competition from private carriers that have added to its legacy of labour problems and crushing debts.

In March, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the UN aviation watchdog, expressed grave concerns about India's air safety, placing it among the 13 worst-performing nations.

An investigation into the auto-pilot incident is being carried out by India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation.

"Following a safety violation, the airline has already suspended the people in question," said the agency.