Air India's flight suddenly lost altitude last month, injuring many passengers, and temporarily lost hydraulic systems, Indian investigators said today.
The Airbus A320 carrying 137 passengers and 8 crew members suddenly lost altitude on August 4 while flying from Phuket (Thailand) to New Delhi, injuring 24 people before the plane stabilized and landed safely. The Indian Ministry of Civil Aviation classified this as a "serious incident".
A preliminary report released by the Indian Air Accidents Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said that the flight control system recorded the loss of 3 hydraulic systems in a few seconds.
The hydraulic incident caused the autopilot mode to turn off and trigger a two-second deceleration warning, before the systems recovered. "Then, the aircraft returned to normal operation," the report said.
Both Airbus and the French Civil Aviation Safety Authority (BEA) have confirmed that they are supporting India's investigation.
The report also mentioned whether the captain tested positive for the banned substance. "The captain (PIC) was determined not to be negative for psychotropic substances in the confirmation test," the document stated, while emphasizing: "Confirmation of psychotropic substance use is a serious concern.
The "non-negative" drug test result means that the initial screening process has detected a substance or an abnormality, but this is not the final negative result or the positive result has been confirmed.
After the incident, the Indian Ministry of Aviation said that regulators are considering tightening regulations on psychotropic substance screening. Air India has requested mandatory drug testing once for all of its pilots.
