Mumbai-Jaipur Jet Airways flight passengers complain of nose, ear bleeding

Fail to turn on switch that maintains cabin pressure; safety audit ordered

At least 30 Jet Airways passengers complained of bleeding, headaches and uneasiness on a flight from Mumbai to Jaipur on Thursday as the pilots “forgot” to maintain air pressure inside the cabin. 

The pilots of flight 9W 767 have been taken off duty and a probe ordered by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau. “Jet Airways is extending full co-operation to the DGCA for the investigation,” the airline said in a statement. 

After the incident, civil aviation minister Suresh Prabhu ordered a comprehensive safety audit plan covering airlines, airports and pilot training schools. The report will be submitted in a month. Director General of Civil Aviation B S Bhullar said the audits will cover all critical areas.

The Boeing 737-800 — carrying 166 passengers and 5 crew members — ascended to 10,000 ft but had to return within minutes. Oxygen masks were deployed as cabin pressure went down below the required level.As an aircraft climbs, atmospheric pressure drops inside the cabin. Pilots turn on a switch to maintain cabin pressure before takeoff or immediately after getting airborne so that passengers get required oxygen. At cruising altitude, cabin pressure inside aircraft is maintained at 8,000 feet or less. When the cabin pressure increases to above 10,000 feet pilots receive alert inside the cockpit and oxygen masks deploy automatically when it crosses 14,000 feet. “Clearly, there appears to be sheer ignorance of the standard operating procedure checklist or a clumsy, careless mistake,” aviation consultant Mark Martin. “The incident puts a question mark on the airline's training standard and more importantly about the pilots' situational awareness,” said aviation safety expert Mohan Ranganathan.

The airline said 144 passengers traveled to Jaipur on alternate flights, while 17 deferred travel. Five passengers were referred to hospital for checkups and were released after examination. According to a doctor at Dr Balabhai Nanavati Hospital in Mumbai, five passengers who were on board the flight were suffering from "mild conductive deafness".

Jet is going through turbulent times. On Wednesday, its shares tumbled over 4 per cent amid survey conducted by incometax officials at its offices. The scrip declined 3.67 per cent to end at Rs 244.25 on BSE on Wednesday. During the day, it lost 5.71 per cent to Rs 239.05 — its 52-week low level.

According to two senior pilots working with two different airlines and regulatory officials, Thursday’s incident could be due to human negligence as checking cabin pressure is part of standard checks carried out before operation of a flight. A pilot said de-pressurisation could even result in hypoxia, or lack of adequate oxygen supply for the human tissues, and can cause problems including deterioration in cognitive abilities.

According to 39-year-old Prashant Sharma, who was on an official trip, the terrifying experience began 5-10 minutes into the flight. "I saw a passenger sitting next to me bleeding from nose. Several others complained of extreme pain in their ears,” Sharma told PTI after he landed in Jaipur in an alternative flight.

“The crew announced that the plane will return...It then circled overhead for around half-an-hour before landing. There was no announcement (related to the problem) from the crew,” said another passenger.

Darshak Hati, who shot a video on board and posted it on social media, narrated a similar story. “During a climb, the crew forgot to select bleed switch due to which cabin pressurisation could not be maintained. As a result, oxygen masks got deployed,” the official at aviation regulator, Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), said. More than 13 years ago, a Boeing aircraft crashed in a hilly terrain in Greece snuffing out 121 lives. Investigators had said that omissions in controlling cabin pressure was a key reason for the crash. On Thursday, the 166 passengers on board Jet might not have been aware about the incident in Greece but they faced a similar situation.