Turbulence, tech fault, pilot? Air India Phuket incident leaves unanswered questions
On August 4, an Air India Airbus A320 flying from Phuket to Delhi suddenly lost around 300 feet of altitude in cruise, leaving passengers and
On August 4, an Air India Airbus A320 flying from Phuket to Delhi suddenly lost around 300 feet of altitude in cruise, leaving passengers and cabin crew injured (including spinal injuries) and the cabin upended. The aircraft recovered, continued to Delhi and landed safely. At first, the explanation appeared relatively straightforward: turbulence. A week later, the picture is considerably murkier. The government has classified the episode as a "serious incident" and handed the investigation to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). Its statement conspicuously made no mention of turbulence. An initial screening for psychoactive substances gave a non-negative result for the captain of the flight, requiring confirmatory analysis. And media reports have suggested that the aircraft may also have suffered technical glitches during the flight. Read Full Story All this has turned what initially looked like a turbulence-related incident into one with several unanswered questions. TURBULENCE OR TECHNICAL FAULT? Turbulence was the initial explanation. On the day of the incident -- August 4 -- Air India described the episode as a "brief in-flight turbulence-related event" that caused a "momentary change in altitude". Five days later, the Ministry of Civil Aviation issued a statement that made no mention of turbulence, instead describing only a "sudden loss of altitude of approximately 300 feet". The ministry also said that the episode had been classified as a "serious incident", with the investigation being taken over by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). That meant the probe into what happened on AI 2379 would now be of a much more significant nature, involving, under international aviation protocol, the aircraft manufacturer Airbus, among others.
A day after the August 9 statement, media reports about potential hydraulic and autopilot system failures raised new questions about the incident. News agency Press Trust of India, citing sources, reported that the A320 suffered multiple technical glitches, including problems involving its hydraulic systems (which are used to control a plane) and an autopilot disconnect, following which the first officer manually recovered the aircraft. Meanwhile, The New Indian Express, which spoke to Airline Pilot Association of India chief Captain Sam Thomas, reported that the pilot-in-command of AI 2379 realised that the aircraft was suffering serious technical issues and asked his co-pilot to immediately take the nose down. "This took the aircraft down by 300 metres. The dip in altitude creates a negative G and that only caused the passengers to be thrown around inside the aircraft. This quick action by the cockpit crew is responsible for saving countless lives on board," Captain Thomas was quoted as saying. These reports have not been confirmed by officials but will obviously be a subject of the ongoing investigation. But importantly, if these reported failures are indeed confirmed, investigators will have to establish their sequence. Did a technical problem cause the aircraft to lose altitude? Or did turbulence trigger a systems disconnect leading to warnings that were consequences rather than the reason? WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE CAPTAIN? It is now known that the pilot-in-command of the flight underwent a mandatory post-incident drug test that threw up a non-negative result, necessitating confirmatory analysis at a laboratory.
The BriefWire