TNIE Exclusive | ‘Triple hydraulic systems failure behind AI Phuket-Delhi flight’s altitude loss’

NEW DELHI: The sudden altitude loss in the Air India flight from Delhi to Phuket on August 4—which caused injuries to 17 people on board—was due to a major technical fault and the timely action by the pilots averted a major tragedy, it is learnt. While atmospheric weather conditions were initially blamed for the mishap, new information indicates that there were issues with the aircraft.The statement issued by Air India initially attributed the incident to “brief in-flight turbulence resulting in momentary change in altitude”. Another statement issued hours later changed it to “sudden loss of altitude during cruise”, dropping the word ‘turbulence’.Captain Sam Thomas, president, Airline Pilot Association of India, said the flight had triple hydraulic systems failure. “The A320 plane was entering Jharsuguda in Odisha around 10.30 pm when the Pilot-in-Command realised the aircraft had a triple hydraulic systems failure.