Air India sacks pilot-in-command after Phuket-Delhi flight incident linked to psychoactive substance

Air India Friday sacked the pilot-in-command of its badly rattled Aug 4 Phuket-Delhi flight hours after Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau's preliminary report concluded the "PIC was found non-negative for psycho-active substance in the confirmatory (dope) test". Terming this confirmation a "serious concern", AAIB has asked Directorate General of Civil Aviation to "take appropriate actions as deemed fit to prevent abuse of psychoactive substance" on "priority" in its interim safety recommendations and conclusion. Aviation secretary Samir Sinha had soon after this accident asked DGCA chief Vir Vikram Yadav to make dope rules more stringent. AI was considering action, including termination, against the PIC for some weeks now but was awaiting AAIB's prelim report into what has now been categorised as an "accident" due to its severity and impact. An AI spokesperson said: "Safety remains AI's highest priority. In line with AI's zero-tolerance approach to violation of safety, fitness or regulatory requirements, the pilot's employment has been terminated with immediate effect. "Software malfunction or manual intervention? Final report may reveal When the badly rattled Airbus A320 had landed in Delhi with 24 injured people and a damaged aircraft cabin, both the pilots were subjected to post-flight breath-analyser examination as per standard protocol. They cleared that test. But for some reason which may be disclosed in the final report, the unusual step of conducting dope tests was taken in this case. "The sample of PIC was found non-negative. Blood samples of both the flight crew were sent to path lab for confirmatory (dope) test. The confirmatory test report of PIC was found non-negative whereas the sample of co-pilot was found negative in both the tests," stated the interim report. An AAIB probe is on to find what caused the Airbus A320 to suffer an extremely rare failure of all three hydraulic systems within seconds. The final report is expected to reveal whether it happened due to something going wrong with the aircraft’s hardware or software or whether due to some manual intervention with the PIC having some role in that, if any. Hydraulics on an Airbus A320 use pressurised liquid to move heavy flight controls, lower the landing gear, and stop the wheels. Such was the impact of this "event" which happened that 24 people got injured and the aircraft cabin saw significant damage, including a lavatory commode getting uprooted from its location. The overhead ceiling panel was found cracked or deformed at various places. Most of the passenger service unit panels were found dislocated or bent at various places. The overhead handrail was found broken and sealing panel found dislocated near the tenth row. The forward right side emergency exit handle was found broken. The cabin supervisor (head cabin crew) apprised the cockpit about the injuries suffered by the passengers and crew. The crew assessed the cabin situation and took the decision of continuing the flight to its destination Delhi and not diverting to the nearest en route airport.

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Following the report, AI said: "We acknowledge the release of the preliminary report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau and continue to extend our full cooperation to the investigation, including providing access to all relevant operational, maintenance and technical records. Safety remains Air India’s highest priority. Our pilots undergo rigorous training, regular proficiency checks, medical examinations and other regulatory assessments in accordance with applicable national and international requirements. Following the incident, Air India has started voluntary testing of 100% of its pilots as a further step to reinforce its safety-first approach." "The airline maintains zero tolerance for any breach of safety, fitness or regulatory requirements," Air India’s statement added.

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