Following the incident on the Phuket-Delhi flight that resulted in numerous injuries, the Tata-owned airline ordered a preliminary drug test, which two additional Air India pilots failed to pass. According to insiders, the final test results are still pending. In the interim, the two pilots have been de-rostered.
After the pilot-in-command of the Phuket-Delhi aircraft failed two urine tests that were required of him at the time of the flight’s landing, the airline ordered all of its pilots to pass the drug test as part of a new standard operating procedure (SOP). His system had been found to contain marijuana.
So far, more than 300 Air India pilots have undergone the testing procedure. According to insiders, the final drug test results often take 24 to 48 hours to arrive. It was thought that a member of the flight’s cabin crew had filed a complaint claiming the pilot had smoked “pot” earlier.
An Airbus A-320Neo was the aircraft that caused the airline authorities to take these actions. Key control surfaces, such as the elevators and ailerons, were completely and simultaneously lost for four seconds, as evidenced by the aircraft’s abrupt 300-foot dive. The similar hydraulic issue caused the spoilers to lose control as well.
Following successive failures of the jet’s three hydraulic systems, the A-320Neo’s elevators and ailerons drifted on their own during those four seconds without pilot command, a first for this kind of aircraft.
The ailerons, which roll the aircraft left or right by tilting the wingtips, the elevators, which pitch the nose up or down, and the spoilers, which add drag to help the aircraft descend or slow down (including braking on landing), are all dependent on hydraulics.
Air India had stated that it regularly tested crew members for drugs in accordance with civil aviation regulations, regardless of any particular flight or operational incident, following the incident, which was initially reported as being related to “turbulence” until clarification came in the form of hard data from the aircraft’s system logs.
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