In-flight selfies face stick

TT, New Delhi, Aug. 26: The aviation regulator is set to ban selfies by passengers and crew members inside aircraft.

An advisory is expected to be issued in 10 days to all domestic and international airlines, officials in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation said.

"Several instances of crew members, including cockpit crew, clicking photographs inside the flights have come to our notice and that's a security concern for us," an official said today.

"We have decided to come out with a comprehensive guideline that will be applicable to both passengers and crew members," said the official. "These guidelines will act as a safety circular for providing guidance to airlines and we are deciding what action can be taken in case of violations."

Another official pointed out that although the Aircraft Rules, 1937, do not allow photography without permission, the rules are hardly followed, especially in the age of selfies.

Rule 13 of the DGCA guidelines says: "No person shall take, or cause or permit to be taken, at a government aerodrome or from an aircraft in flight, any photograph except in accordance with and subject to the terms and conditions of a permission in writing granted by the director-general, a joint director-general, a deputy director-general or the director of regulations and information of the civil aviation department."

"We issued warnings to two pilots recently for taking selfies inside the aircraft and posting those photographs on Facebook," a DGCA official said. "On four other occasions, pilots allowed their family members inside the cockpit and let them click selfies. It has become a menace."

In November last year, licences of two pilots were suspended briefly after they had taken in-flight selfies and posted them in social media.

"Sometimes when celebrities travel with us, our crew members do take selfies with them and post them even on our official social media accounts," a spokesperson for a domestic carrier said. "In case of passengers, they are discouraged from clicking pictures of flight attendants but our crew members don't really intervene when they take selfies. With the DGCA's new policy in place, all that could change."