Air India lies and gives lame excuses in US

Fined by US for sloppy website, AI defence: our employee died
Smita Aggarwal : New Delhi, Sat May 05 2012, 02:16 hrs
Air India has become the first airline to be penalised under new US rules enhancing protection for air travel consumers. By its own admission, that’s because it couldn’t update its website as the employee managing the site had died.
The US Transportation Department’s order dated May 3, imposing a $80,000 penalty on Air India, says the airline had failed to post contingency plans for lengthy tarmac delays and customer service plans, including fees for optional services, on its website on the date under consideration (August 23, 2011).
AI argued that it had uploaded its tarmac delay and customer service plans, but “these apparently did not properly appear due to a technical problem”.
The delay in “fixing” this was due to the “unfortunate and unexpected death of the employee responsible for making the changes”, AI argued during the mitigation proceedings.
The defence cut no ice with the US Transporation Department, which has directed the carrier to pay half of its $80,000 fine within a month.
Foreign carriers operating to the US with at least one aircraft of 30 or more seats are required to adopt contingency plans for lengthy tarmac delays as well as customer service plans, and to post these on their websites.
Ironically, AI has one of the world’s highest aircraft to manpower ratios of 1:230, against the norm of 1:115. It has also been grappling with problems of “rationalising” its staff that numbers over 38,000.
AI said it would seek “corrective” action by paying half the penalty and seeking a waiver on the rest. AI has 10 days to file a review petition.
http://www.indianexpress.com/news/fined-by-us-for-sloppy-website-ai-defence-our-employee-died/945661/
Comment: Air India ought to have been fined in our own country. Shame other nations have to do our job. Cheaters can never be winners!

Indian Swiss Accounts will be disclosed

WikiLeaks will out Indian Swiss accounts: Assange
Press Trust of India, Updated: April 26, 2011 16:49 IST

New Delhi: In comments that could fuel a fresh controversy over the black money issue, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange today said there are Indian names in the Swiss bank data list that are going to be made public.

"Yes, there are Indian names in the data that we have already published or are going to publish. I can't remember specifically whether there are Indian names in the coming publication. But I have read Indian names," Assange told a private TV channel.

Indicating that there are bigwigs among the Indians having their accounts in Swiss banks, he said, "Similarly, in these private Swiss banking concerns, where you need at least a million dollar, which is a significant amount of money...not an average Indian..."

Asked whether the names will come at any point, he said on "that, you should absolutely not lose hope". He, however, declined to reveal anything more on the issue at this stage.

Noting that he has come to know through a report that there are more Indian deposits in the Swiss banks than any other nationality, Assange said, "there is no reason why India should not be aggressive."

Praising the German government for its aggressive approach to unearth black money stashed offshore, he said that India "should be more aggressive because India seems like it is losing per capita much more tax than Germany."

Assange alleged that Indian government's response to the WikiLeaks cables was "one of the worst in the world" and a "clear attempt to mislead the nation on what the cables were". He said that the response by the Indian government left a lot to be desired.

Assange also dismissed contention of the Indian government that accords on double taxation were coming in the way of tracking the trail of black money. "Double taxation does not have anything to do with asset hiding. It doesn't simply cover asset hiding," he said.

Assange said that the issue of stashing black money in foreign banks was much worse than just local corruption as when money is pushed offshore, "...then every time they are selling rupees and the result is that the currency of the nation is debased...everything for all Indians become more expensive as a result of that transfer."

Assange had earlier claimed that he was handed over documents of bank accounts by a former banker Rudolf Elmer and the whistleblower also claimed that the names in the documents came from "US, Britain, Germany, Austria and Asia - from all over," and include "business people, politicians, people who have made their living in the arts and multinational conglomerates - from both sides of the Atlantic".
Read more at: Swiss Terror: Swiss Secret Accounts- NDTV

Is flying safe with fake Pilot Licence

24/11/2010
Fake flights and fake flying hours in pilot licence scam
Jaipur: The Rajasthan Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) on Tuesday arrested an assistant general manager of the Jaipur Air Traffic Control (ATC) and the chief flying instructor (CFI) of the Rajasthan State Flying School in connection with a commercial pilot licence scam.
The duo, in collusion with other officials, allegedly accepted money to fudge records of flying hours for at least 14 students, thus helping them obtain commercial pilot licences in a fraudulent manner. According to the rules, students must log at least 200 flying hours to get a licence.
The accused have been identified as CFI Mahendra Kumar and AGM Manoj Jain. "Kumar would log fake hours and Jain at the ATC would countersign, though the plane was never in the air," said ACB Additional Director General of Police Ajit Singh. He added that Kumar charged students extra money for faking flying hours, over and above the official fee of Rs 4.7 lakh.
Last month, the ACB arrested an Indian Airlines pilot, Rahul Yadav, in connection with the same case. According to Singh, Yadav had logged only around 20 hours of flying time, while his flight logs showed the required 200 hours.
"Though records show that Yadav completed a cross-country flight from Jaipur to Hissar as part of his training, we have evidence to show that the plane he reportedly used was undergoing maintenance at the time," said Singh. Incidentally, Yadav's father is a senior official with the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA).
ACB officials said that from 2004-2008, the duo had logged fake flying hours for at least 14 students, including another Indian Airlines technician, Rakesh Mehta, and Pallavi Sherje, who is at present an assistant flying instructor in Nagpur.
Incidentally, according to sources, Kumar was vying for the post of pilot of the state aircraft that ferries Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot.
Bhupendra Yadav, the ACB investigation officer, said M S Beniwal, the CFI at Hissar Aviation Club, was also wanted in the case but was absconding. "We have a warrant for his arrest, but he has managed to evade the police. Kumar would log a cross-country flight from Jaipur to Hissar and back, as part of the training, and Beniwal would countersign," said Yadav.
Fake flights and fake flying hours in pilot licence scam

Read more of Indian Fakes: A run up to a Fake democarcy!
Indian fakes galore: Now a fake GOI Memorandum

China’s New Bullet Train Breaks Speed Record; Makes Amtrak Cry

China’s Harmony train can now boast of being the fastest long distance passenger train on the planet. The Harmony express raced 1,100 km in less than three hours on Saturday, travelling from Guangzhou, capital of southern Guangdong province, to the central city of Wuhan. The journey previously took at least 11 hours [Financial Times]. That’s almost like traveling from New York City to Indianapolis by train in three hours. Even if you encountered a two and a half hour delay, which happened to one unlucky load of Harmony riders this week, you’d still make great time.

See the train in action in the video below:


The train will run 56 times per day and the cheapest fare is 490 yuan (roughly $72), however many slower trains along the same route will be axed to help cover costs.
Harmony reached a top speed of 217 miles per hour (350 km per hour) on its debut, bumping off Japan’s Shinkansen bullet train and France’s TGV, both of which can travel at 186 miles per hour (300 km per hour). Embarrassingly for the United States, Amtrak’s Acela service takes three and a half hours to travel the 186 miles (300 km) between New York and Boston.
For a look at Chinese high speed rail, both present and future, and the state of U.S. high speed rail spending, click over to Next Big Future.
China’s New Bullet Train Breaks Speed Record; Makes Amtrak Cry

Fastest Indian Train