NEW DELHI: The severe turbulence that hit the Air India plane AI 2379 from Phuket to Delhi on August 5 injuring 17 on board, including four female crew members, has raised questions on cockpit crew training for weather conditions, adherence to basic rules by the crew and the behaviour of passengers.
Aviation safety consultant and former Boeing aircraft instructor Captain Mohan Ranganathan called it “very poor airmanship.” Insisting that the injuries in the turbulence be called “an accident” and not an incident, Ranganathan questioned whether the pilots made a call for the seat belts to be fastened by the passengers. “The injuries suffered by many passengers and the cabin crew, who also should have been in their seats in such situations, point out that this was not done,” he added.
The Captain had steered his flights to safety during challenging events like the Chennai cyclone in 1976, Singapore squall in 1994 and a typhoon in Hong Kong the same year. He said excellent training backed by his experience helped him land the planes safely in dangerous situations.
Insisting that pilots need to be better trained, the expert said airlines fill up slots with people lacking enough expertise and experience. “In case of any such incident, the cockpit crew should have taken the plane to the nearest airport. Why did they take it up to Delhi airport for landing? In this case, four of the cabin crew members were also injured. If any emergency happened on board, how would they be able to manage it when they are not fit?”
Explaining that the temperature in the atmosphere is displayed continuously in the cockpit gauge for the crew to monitor, the expert said they would know in advance about the approaching weather conditions. “The autopilot in the plane is on and the Manage Board needs to be moved to the Manual Board position by the pilot. The cockpit crew needs to ride the wave,” he said.
Federation of Indian Pilots president Captain C S Randhawa said it must first be analysed if the pilots cautioned the passengers to put on their seat belts. “There is a general caution given by cabin crew to passengers to leave the seat belts loosely unfastened even under normal circumstances. Details from the digital flight data recorder (DFDR) will help us get an accurate picture of what happened,” he said.
