A post-flight Centralised Fault Display System log from an Air India Phuket-Delhi flight that suddenly lost altitude and dropped 300 feet, leaving 24 people injured, revealed a series of warnings linked to the aircraft’s hydraulic systems, flight controls and autopilot.
How events unfolded
The August 4 incident, which left 20 passengers and four crew members injured on flight AI2379, an Airbus A320 registered as VT-EXO, was classified as serious and led to an investigation by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau ( AAIB ). The log, seen by HT , shows nine warning messages appearing within a minute at 9.32am IST, when the aircraft had crossed the Odisha coast after flying over the Bay of Bengal. Two emergency-exit door sensor warnings were then recorded at 9.33am and 9.35am. No additional warnings involving the hydraulic systems or elevator were recorded for the following 43 minutes.
