Airbus’s initial reading of the Digital Flight Data Recorder (black box) of the A-320 jetliner, which violently dropped 300 feet on a flight from Phuket to New Delhi, indicated that there was a total, simultaneous loss of key control surfaces, including the elevators and ailerons, for a period of 4 seconds – with the spoilers also lost as a consequence of the same hydraulic failure.
However, these initial findings did not identify a definitive root cause. Neither did Airbus issue final recommendations. There are no observations presently on whether the conduct of the pilot in command of the flight, Captain Sudeep Vashistha, is linked to the serious safety incident on the Phuket-Delhi flight, though those details continue to be investigated. Vashistha failed two urine tests he was asked to undergo after the flight landed.
In its initial report, Airbus linked the emergency on AI-2379 to a possible faulty pressure sensor (a specific hydraulic pressure switch).
Marijuana has been detected in his system, and a cabin crew member aboard the flight is believed to have submitted a complaint alleging the pilot had earlier smoked ‘pot’.
Since then, experts from Airbus and the French Accident Investigator, the BEA, have arrived in New Delhi and have been able to access the aircraft on Thursday. NDTV has learned that new findings from the preliminary physical examination of the aircraft and its systems have been forwarded to India’s AAIB (Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau), the nodal agency overseeing the investigation.
