New Delhi: The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has suspended the licence of the pilot-in-command (PIC) of the SpiceJet flight for six months, sources confirmed on Saturday.

The PIC’s co-pilot had asked the captain to skirt the clouds ahead and not fly through them but he ignored it. It happened in pertinence with the May 1 incidence, wherein the Boeing B737 aircraft operating flight SG-945 from Mumbai to Durgapur encountered severe turbulence during descent which resulted in injuries to a few passengers.

There were a total of 195 persons on board the aircraft including two pilots and four cabin crew members. The aircraft took off from Mumbai at approximately 5.13 pm. During the descent, the aircraft experienced severe turbulence and the vertical load factor varied from +2.64G and – 1.36G.

During this period the autopilot got disengaged for two minutes and the crew manually flew the aircraft, the DGCA had said in its statement on May 2.