Pilot error led to AI Express crash in Kozhikode, says probe report

According to the report, the investigation team is of the opinion that the role of systemic failures as a contributory factor cannot be overlooked in this accident

Non-adherence to standard operating procedure resulted in the Air India Express Boeing 737 crash at Kozhikode airport in August 2020, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said in its final report.

The investigation report, which was released by AAIB Director General Group Captain Aurobindo Handa on Saturday, concluded that the probable cause of the accident was the pilot’s decision to continue with an unstabilised approach and failure to carry out a “go around” despite calls for the same by the co-pilot.

The Boeing 737 aircraft (VT AXH), which was operating Dubai-Kozhikode flight, landed half way down the runway before crashing into a gorge. Twenty people, including both the pilots, were killed in the accident.

While the investigation blames the pilots for poor co-ordination, it has also listed out other factors that contributed to the crash. Low visibility and a faulty windshield viper led to degraded visual cues upon landing. “The pilot in command was taking multiple un-prescribed anti-diabetic drugs that could have probably caused subtle cognitive deficits due to mild hypoglycemia, which probably contributed to errors in complex decision making,” the report noted.

“The actions and decisions of the PIC (pilot in command) were steered by a misplaced motivation to land back at Kozhikode to operate next day morning flight AXB 1373. The unavailability of sufficient number of captains at Kozhikode was the result of faulty AI Express HR policy which does not take into account operational requirements while assigning permanent base to its captains. There was only one captain against 26 First Officers on the posted strength at Kozhikode,” it said.

The report points out that hundred per cent monitoring of flight data was not being carried out by Air India Express. Flight data monitoring is the most effective tool to identify exceedance and provide suitable corrective training to prevent accidents. However, action taken reports submitted by the airline were accepted by the DGCA year after year without ascertaining its implementation, the report noted.

Meteorological aids, runway infrastructure and role of firefighting and medical team at Kozhikode came under the investigation scanner too.

Accuracy of reported surface winds for the runway was affected by installation of wind sensor in contravention of the laid out criteria. This was aggravated by frequent breakdown due to poor maintenance. Further, the Tower Met Officer (TMO) was not available in the ATC tower despite inclement weather.

Kozhikode, which has a table top runway, has a runway end safety area (RESA) that helps prevent an aircraft from overshooting. But the RESA in Kozhikode airport was not maintained as per requirements and was not ploughed regularly to arrest speed of an aircraft in case of an overrun.

A five-member team led by Captain S S Chahar carried out the probe. Other team members included operations expert Ved Prakash, senior aircraft maintenance engineer Mukul Bharadwaj, aviation medicine expert Group Captain (Dr) Y S Dahiya and AAIB deputy director J S Largha.

Earlier this week, Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said, "Whatever steps are advocated in the report, they will have to be implemented. A group of people in the ministry will be tasked with implementing the recommendations in the report."