Air India terminates pilot after AAIB flags issues in AI2379 probe
AAIB’s preliminary report on AI2379 flagged multiple operational and technical issues, including hydraulic-system losses and autopilot disengagement. Air India said it terminated the pilot-in-command following a non-negative psychoactive-substance test; investigations continue.
What happened
Air India · AAIB’s preliminary AI2379 report flagged triple hydraulic-system loss, autopilot disengagement and a non-negative psychoactive-substance test
Key facts
- Airbus A320 cruising at 36,000 feet
- Loss of green hydraulic pressure at 04:02:43 UTC
- Blue and yellow hydraulic losses detected four seconds later
- Autopilot disengaged at 04:02:48 UTC
- Stall warning lasted two seconds
- Aircraft gained 372 feet and then lost 292 feet
- 145 people onboard: 137 passengers, six cabin crew and two pilots
- 20 passengers and four cabin crew injured
- Four injured people hospitalised
Why this matters
Any aviation partnership, asset or capability assessment involving Air India should apply heightened diligence to safety systems, maintenance reliability, crew-governance controls and regulatory exposure.
What to watch
- AAIB preliminary-report updates, final findings and any safety recommendations.
- DGCA enforcement actions, special audits, route or fleet restrictions, and mandated training or inspection programs.
- Evidence that hydraulic losses, autopilot disengagements or procedural lapses occurred on other Air India flights or aircraft types.
- Changes in Air India cancellation rates, on-time performance, aircraft-on-ground levels and maintenance-related delays.
- Passenger sentiment, corporate-travel account reactions, fare discounting and booking trends following additional media coverage.
- Litigation, insurance disclosures or employee-union responses tied to the incident.
- Accelerate independent audits of flight-operations manuals, maintenance-release processes, hydraulic-system defect reporting and crew fitness-for-duty controls.
- Expand random psychoactive-substance testing and ensure rapid, documented escalation protocols for non-negative results.
- Review recent flight data for autopilot disengagements, hydraulic anomalies, unstable approaches and abnormal-checklist execution patterns.
- Prepare contingency crew, aircraft and passenger-reaccommodation plans if regulator-directed inspections reduce dispatch reliability.
- Use factual, investigation-aligned communications to separate confirmed findings from preliminary allegations and protect customer confidence.