India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation is investigating.
An Air India Boeing 777-300ER. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
Less than two days after the crash of an Air India flight that killed 270 people, a different flight operated by the same carrier plunged 900 feet and received multiple critical warnings shortly after takeoff.
Indian newspaper The Economic Times reported Tuesday that a Boeing 777-300ER operating as Air India Flight 187 briefly lost altitude after departing Delhi for Vienna early in the morning on July 14. The aircraft’s pilots received a stall warning and two “don’t sink” alerts from the Ground Proximity Warning System alerting them to the 900-foot drop.
The aircraft was reportedly navigating through severe thunderstorms at the time.
The flight landed safely in Vienna about nine hours later, but India’s aviation authority, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation, is investigating, and the flight’s two pilots have been taken off flying duty, The Economic Times reported.
“The aircraft was involved in an inflight occurrence of stick shaker and GPWS caution,” an unnamed official told another newspaper, The Times of India. “Soon after takeoff, stick shaker warning and GPWS don’t sink caution appeared. Stall warning came once and GPWS caution came twice. There was an altitude loss of around 900 feet during climb. Subsequently, the crew recovered the aircraft and continued the flight to Vienna.”
A stick shaker alert shakes an aircraft’s controls to warn the flight crew of an impending stall.
The pilots did not disclose all of the warnings they received, and the true extent of the incident was only discovered later during an analysis of flight data, according to The Economic Times.
Air India acknowledged the DGCA investigation and said it is carrying out its own probe.
The airline has been operating under increased government oversight since the June 12 crash in the Indian city of Ahmedabad. A Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner operating as Air India Flight 171 lost altitude shortly after takeoff and crashed into the campus of a medical college, killing all but one of the 242 people on board and dozens on the ground.
An Air India Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner. (Photo: AirlineGeeks | William Derrickson)
Authorities have instructed Air India managers to step up coordination among the carriers’ departments, including engineering, operations, and ground handling, and focus on safety.
Air India also voluntarily launched enhanced inspections of its Boeing 777s and 787s, forcing it to cut and scale back certain international and domestic flights until at least mid-July.
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