After the plunge

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), the two institutions responsible for safety-related incidents, should  come up with a final investigation report soon on why a Phuket-Delhi Air India flight suddenly dropped 300 feet, injuring many passengers and crew members on August 4. The findings so far have revealed two things — issues related to all three hydraulic systems on the Airbus A320 plane and a captain who had consumed marijuana ahead of taking charge in the cockpit. The data recorder shows a rare loss of pressure across all the hydraulic systems and the flight losing all key controls, including its elevators (for up/down pitch) and ailerons (for left/right roll) for four seconds. Without clarity on what really caused the 300-foot plunge, the conjecture is that the captain, who failed a dope test after the flight, may have been unable to control the elevators and ailerons after the simultaneous failure of the hydraulic systems. While the DGCA is in the process of making the guidelines more stringent for tests to detect drug and psychoactive substance, the investigation should go deep into the simultaneous failure of all three hydraulic systems on the flight. 

The latest incident comes just a year after the fatal Boeing 787 Air India crash, which is yet to find a closure with no clarity on what caused the catastrophic accident in Ahmedabad just seconds after takeoff. On the issue of doping in particular, there’s an effort to take the tests procedures to international level, with Federation of Indian Pilots President C S Randhawa telling the DGCA that it should be made mandatory to test 25 per cent of the pilots on a random basis, rather than 10 per cent now. Besides the captain of the Phuket-Delhi flight, two other pilots have tested positive. This is a serious concern and Air India must double down on safety measures to restore passenger trust. 

Going beyond the current regulatory ask, Air India has ordered a mandatory one-time test for drugs and psychoactive substances for its  5,000-plus pilots. However, ensuring that the drive is not just on paper will be paramount. It’s also an alarm bell for the regulator — the DGCA — to be more vigilant so that all airlines are compliant in a foolproof manner. According to the present DGCA rules, all scheduled airlines and air-traffic controllers must randomly test at least 10 per cent of their safety-sensitive personnel, including pilots, for psychoactive substances every year. These tests are also mandatory after any accident or safety-related incident. In many developed countries, the rules are much stricter and part of a regime. In the United States, for instance, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Transportation mandate airlines to randomly test a minimum of 25 per cent of their safety-sensitive workforce, including commercial pilots, for drugs every year and 10 per cent for alcohol.

Among others, there are pre-employment tests, post-accident tests, and those for reasonable suspicion and return to duty. If a pilot fails or refuses a test, the consequences include immediate grounding, evaluation by a substance-abuse professional, and treatment followed by unannounced followup testing before returning to work. In the expanding Indian aviation sector, which is a duopoly for all practical purposes, safety should be the top priority for the companies. That must be accompanied by international-standard regulatory oversight.