Window pane of an Air India fight comes off mid-air: How airlines play with passenger safety

The mid-air freak accident, in which at least three passengers of an Air India flight were injured as a window panel came off, has once again brought the issue of air safety on the radar. While Indian airlines have performed better than many of global airlines – as far as the number of fatalities is concerned – unusual incidents, which can pose a serious threat to the passengers, continue to haunt various airlines of the country.

The accident comes close on the heels of the fatal Nepal plane crash in which 49 passengers died when the a US-Bangla plane crash-landed onto the field near the runway at Tribhuvan International Airport.

The Air India incident is being considered as a “freak kind of severe turbulence”, which lasted for about 15 minutes. According to a NDTV report, the passengers encountered up to three times the force of gravity. The turbulence started soon after the Amritsar-Delhi flight, Boeing 787 Dreamliner (VT-ANI), took off on April 19. One passenger, who might not have had his seat belt on, hit the overhead cabin, and was severely injured, while the other two sustained minor injured. Some oxygen masks also dropped and leaving the passengers terrified. There were 236 passengers and six crew members on board. The commanding pilot said that he had “never seen anything like this”.

Incidents of pilots being grounded for reporting to work in an inebriated state, or violating codes of conduct like fighting with a co-pilots, are plenty. But despite several checks and measures imposed by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), such aircraft accidents are taking place.

In February this year, an Air India flight and a Vistara flight came dangerously close to each other in the airspace in Mumbai. The two planes had 261 passengers on board.

In February this year, a few passengers of a Bengaluru-bound GoAir flight alleged that the pilots had threatened to crash the flight. The passengers were shooting a video of the pilots coming towards the plane long time after the scheduled departure of the plane. The airline, however, denied the allegations.

Bird strikes or wildlife strikes are also common at India airports. In January, an Ahmedabad-bound flight had to abort landing at the Vallabhbhai International Airport as the pilot had spotted a cow running near the runway.

However, this mid-air turbulence is one-of-its kind. In 2014, a Singapore Airlines flight faced a similar situation while it was landing in Mumbai. About 22 passengers were injured.

In 2014, there were several air mishaps. Around 400 passengers and crew of an Air India flight from Jeddah to Mumbai had a mid-air scare and had to return after a cockpit panel showed that one of the doors was not properly locked.

In another incident, a large panel of the fuse-large of a Bangalore-bound Air India Dreamliner fell off mid-air.

In May 2010, an Air India Express flight flying from Dubai to Mangalore crash-landed into a gorge, killing 152 of the 160 passengers. This has been the deadliest crash the country has seen in the last decade.

According to the Annual Safety Report, 2017, a total of 2,499 occurrences were reported to DGCA in 2016. Occurrences include all sorts of incidents and accidents. Among these, seven were classified as accidents, 11 serious accidents and the rest were incidents in which safety appeared compromised. Comparing the level of improvement in air safety, the report shows data that there were 159 fatalities between 2008 and 2015, while in 2016 there was no fatality.

According to a written reply, submitted by the aviation ministry to Parliament, nine arlines had reported 24,791 snags in 2017: 9,689 by Jet; 4,903 by SpiceJet; 4,563 by Air India, 1,888 by GoAir; 1,367 by AirAsia;1,225 by Vistara; 793 by Blue Dart; 340 by IndiGo and 23 by Zoom Air. This led to indignation among other airlines that IndiGo has under-reported its snags.

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