Not turbulence: Air India A320 suffered rare flight-control event before 300-foot altitude drop

The Phuket–Delhi flight that skilled a “momentary loss in altitude” on August 4, injuring 17 people on board, was preceded by a cascade of failures involving the plane’s hydraulic and flight-control programs, in line with a number of sources acquainted with the matter, contradicting the airline’s preliminary attribution of the incident to turbulence.

Almost 2.5 hours after taking off from Phuket at 6.56 a.m., Air India flight AI 2379 operated on Airbus A320 neo was hit by a cascade of technical failures at 9.32 a.m. IST, involving the plane’s hydraulic and flight-control programs.

The sequence concerned low-pressure indications and failures affecting one or two hydraulic programs at a time, with totally different combos involving all three programs — an incidence a number of pilots described as extraordinarily uncommon.

Automated post-flight upkeep report

The automated post-flight upkeep report data failures and warning indications in numerous hydraulic programs, occurring both individually or in combos of two programs however affecting all three of them, in line with a supply who has seen a duplicate of the report.

An inside view of the Air India flight from Phuket to Delhi after passengers had been injured, in New Delhi on Tuesday, August 4, 2026
| Photograph Credit score:
A passenger onboard by way of ANI

The report data 9 such fault messages inside one minute.

Because the plane pitched up and a stall warning was triggered, one of many pilots took handbook management and tried to push the nostril down, in line with one other Air India supply acquainted with the sequence of occasions. The pilot might have utilized important management enter whereas trying to recuperate the plane, the supply stated, inflicting the plane to lose round 300 toes of altitude in a matter of moments and throwing passengers and crew upward.

The out there technical data don’t present additional fault messages after this sequence. Sources stated this means that the flight-control programs had been recovered following the pilots’ intervention, though the exact relationship between the technical failures, the flight-control response and the next altitude tour stays topic to investigation.

The pilots determined to proceed to Delhi moderately than divert to a close-by airport because of the availability of higher medical amenities for the injured passengers in addition to plane engineering assist.

The incident has been categorized as a critical incident and is being investigated by the Plane Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). Neither Air India nor the Ministry of Civil Aviation has talked about the technical fault indications of their respective press statements.

Air India’s preliminary assertion attributed the momentary lack of altitude to “in-flight turbulence”, however subsequent statements didn’t repeat the reference to turbulence. The Ministry’s assertion, too, made no point out of turbulence. Neither Air India nor the Ministry assertion talked about any snags encountered throughout the flight.

Air India has additionally sought a technical evaluation from Airbus and is awaiting the producer’s response to a questionnaire referring to the incident, in line with sources acquainted with the matter. The character of the technical points referred to Airbus couldn’t be independently established.

The Hindu has despatched Air India an in depth questionnaire and has additionally sought a response from Airbus.