Five passengers and two cabin crew reported nausea and dizziness on a London Heathrow to Mumbai flight on Monday even as the aviation regulator started an annual audit of the airline amid increased scrutiny following the fatal crash of AI 171 in Ahmedabad on 12 June.
Air India confirmed the incident on flight AI 130 from London Heathrow to Mumbai but did not specify the cause. An airline official familiar with the matter, on condition of anonymity, said the passengers and crew fell sick due to slow decompression, or a gradual decrease in cabin pressure. “A few of them were taken to the medical room (at Mumbai’s Terminal 2 ) on wheelchairs,” an airport official, also on condition of anonymity, added.
“… five passengers and two crew members reported feeling dizzy and nauseous during different phases of the flight. The flight landed safely in Mumbai, where our medical teams were ready to provide immediate assistance,” an Air India spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said the two passengers and two cabin crew members who were taken to the medical room for further examination were later discharged. “We are investigating the incident and have duly notified the regulator.”
On 12 June, a 787 Dreamliner bound for London crashed in a densely populated residential area less than a minute after take off from Ahmedabad airport, killing 241 of 242 passengers and crew on board and approximately 30 people on the ground. The air crash is being investigated by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) as teams from the US and UK as well as those from Boeing and engine manufacturer GE.
In another incident, it emerged that Air India flight AI 505, scheduled to take off for Cochin from Delhi on Saturday, was delayed after the pilot reportedly refused to fly because the mandatory logbook required to be in the cabin was missing.
The A320neo (VT CIP) that arrived from Kuala Lumpur at 11am was leaving for Cochin at night, an official familiar with the matter said. “During the night flight’s pre-boarding inspection, it was found that the aircraft’s Cabin Defect Log (CDL) was missing,” a second official said adding that it was not found even after searching for almost an hour.
A new CDL was issued after discussions as the captain and crew would not fly the aircraft without it as it would be in violation of standard operating procedures, a third official said.
An Air India spokesperson did not comment on the matter.
But an airline official , on condition of anonymity, said the logbook couldn’t be presented to the operating crew by Air India’s engineering service provider, which was handling the maintenance checks for the flight. The replacement logbook that was arranged had all the data entries of the earlier book, the official said.
“However, the transfer resulted in a marginal delay and the issue is being investigated,” the official added.
“Unreported defects in emergency equipment may go unnoticed, posing a direct threat during emergencies. Cabin logs are part of regulatory compliance under the DGCA. Engineers rely on the cabin defect log to identify what needs fixing during turnaround. If cabin crew don’t log issues, engineers cannot act, resulting in escalated minor issues, repeat occurrences, and poor aircraft reliability and serviceability, said aviation safety expert Amit Singh, founder of the Safety Matters Foundation
India’s aviation regulator, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had on Saturday warned Air India that it is in danger of losing its licence over violation of crew scheduling norms, licensing, or flight time limitations detected in any post-audit or inspectionand sought action against three officials for systemic failures in crew scheduling, compliance monitoring, and internal accountability.
On Monday, the regulator began a detailed audit of the Air India headquarters in Gurugram.
The audit is believed to focus on operations, flight planning, scheduling, rostering, and the Integrated Operations Control Centre (IOCC). While it is a regular audit that is conducted annually, officials from the ministry said that unlike the usual three-member team, an eight-member DGCA team is conducting the audit this time, indicating its seriousness. This is in addition to additional safety checks it ordered on the airline’s fleet of Boeing 787 Dreamliners, the type of aircraft involved in the Ahmedabad crash, which Air India said it has completed.