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The 7,000 feet plunge of an Air India Express plane from Dubai to Pune that added to the panic days after another one crashed in Mangalore was caused by its co-pilot inadvertently knocking the control column and failing to recover.
Reports in the Indian media gave details about the harrowing experience when the flight’s captain had taken a routine bathroom break.
The co-pilot who was trying to adjust his seat accidently pushed the control column sending the plane on a nosedive. Unable to retrieve the diving craft, the co-pilot was in total panic with the cockpit door locked and the captain not in seat.
It was however the alertness and experience of the captain that saved the situation and lives of over a hundred passengers and crew on board the Boeing 737-800 aircraft when he got out of the bathroom, punched in the emergency codes to open the password-secured cockpit door and regained control.
By then the aircraft last 7,000 ft altitude with passengers in total panic sending plastic water bottles and boxes into the aisle.
Back in control the captain made an announcement that the plane had hit an air pocket. But that was only done to reassure the already panicked passengers that everything was all right.
The co-pilot who had 1,000 hours of experience later told investigators from India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation that he was totally lost and was even unable to open the cockpit door for the captain.
The May 26 incident happened four days after another AIE flight from Dubai crashed in Mangalore killing 158 people on board. Leaked findings later blamed the captain, a British national of east European origin, for sleeping through the flight and waking up close to landing time. He allegedly failed to read the approach and made a wrong landing despite repeated warnings from his co-pilot. The plane careened down a cliff of the table-top Bajpe airport in Mangalore. The passengers were mostly expatriate workers from the UAE.
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