AAIB Report on Phuket-Delhi Air India Flight Leaves Key Technical Questions Open
· India · Hindustan Times, Zee News
India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released its preliminary report on the Air India Phuket-Delhi Airbus A320neo flight that dropped nearly 300 feet at 36,000 feet on August 4, injuring at least 24 people. The report found the aircraft lost all three hydraulic systems within four seconds, triggering a stall warning and rapid altitude loss, before the systems recovered seconds later and the flight continued normally to Delhi. Former pilots flagged three unanswered questions: why all three hydraulics failed simultaneously, why the crew chose not to divert to a closer airport like Kolkata or Bhubaneswar despite a medical emergency, and what exactly caused the violent altitude loss and recovery. Airbus does not train crews for a triple hydraulic failure because the scenario was not previously contemplated. Air India has separately terminated the operating pilot after a "non-negative" psychoactive substance test.
Why it matters
The unresolved triple hydraulic failure and crew's decision not to divert have direct safety implications for Air India passengers and crew, and the case is likely to pressure Airbus and Indian regulators to formalise training and procedures for catastrophic multi-system failures previously considered impossible. Air India's decision to fire the pilot also raises questions about crew screening standards inside the airline.
Read the original report — Hindustan Times
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