Not just turbulence: on the Air India aircraft incident

The August 4, 2026, incident involving Air India flight AI 2379, from Phuket to Delhi , with 137 passengers and eight crew, now has two tracks. The first concerns its reclassification: the initial ‘event of turbulence’ is now a “serious incident” after inflight technical issues and a significant deviation in aircraft altitude caused injuries to more than 20 passengers and crew, quickly drawing in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA). The subsequent probe by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, along with France’s investigation authority, BEA, and technical representatives from Airbus, should unravel the multiple anomalies that briefly overtook the Airbus A320N — fault warnings across the hydraulic systems, elevator flight-control faults, autopilot disconnection, emergency-exit door indications and an engine anti-ice warning. Airbus’s initial data is said to support the evidence of technical errors . However, it is the second track that has received much attention: the result of the pilot-in-command’s post-flight screening for psychoactive substances .