India Probes After Jet Airways Drops Height

: Aug 20, 2014 - : 10:06 am

To read the full article, please log in or enter your email below:

India’s aviation regulator has initiated an investigation into an abrupt mid-air plunge of a Jet Airways aircraft over the Turkish airspace that scared several passengers and pushed air traffic controllers to issue an emergency warning. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has summoned the captain and co-pilot for questioning over what it called a "serious incident" when a Jet Airways flying from Mumbai to Brussels dived almost 5000 feet (1500 meters) over Turkey, placing it an altitude allotted to another aircraft. The pilot was taking a nap and the co-pilot said she was busy on her tablet, according to local media reports. It was only after the co-pilot received a call from the alarmed air traffic controller alerting it about the drop that the aircraft was pulled back to its assigned height. The aircraft had descended from 34,000 feet to 29,000 feet. Both the pilots have been “taken off the roster pending inquiry,” a senior DGCA official informs. The aviation authorities “will investigate whether the co-pilot had dozed off or accidently pressed some button on her work tablet leading to the descent,” he says. Additionally, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau will conduct a detailed investigation into the incident over the next four to five months. The probe will determine “whether the pilots were trained adequately” and also fix the “quantum of punishment or penalty, if at all, for the pilots,” the DGCA official says further. Jet Airways is cooperating with the investigation and has also initiated its own inquiry into the incident. “Safety is of paramount importance to Jet Airways, as is also the welfare of our guests and crew and the airline will always take appropriate steps to ensure the same,” an airline official says. Jet is the country’s second largest airline by market share and flies on both domestic and international routes. The carrier is 24% owned by Etihad Airways of Abu Dhabi and has 10 Boeing 777-300ERs in its fleet. The company is hoping to recover profits in the fiscal year that ends in March, 2017.Earlier this week, Jet announced plans to shut its low-cost carrier brand. India's air passenger industry has witnessed sharp expansion over recent years but many companies are debt-laden as a result of stiff competition, spiraling fuel costs and substandard infrastructure. Earlier this year, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) downgraded India's aviation safety rating to story_category two from story_category one, citing a lack of safety oversight.