A routine probe into a damaged door has ended up piling one embarrassment on top of another for embattled national carrier Air India (AI). The IC 179 Air India flight from Mumbai to Mangalore, which landed in trouble when a DGCA (Directorate General Of Civil Aviation) probe revealed that it was carrying passengers beyond its capacity, had doctored records to show the extra travelers as ‘infants’, DNA has learnt.
The Airbus A-321 aircraft never took off from Mumbai airport on May 5, 2009 because its door got damaged. According to reports, the aircraft’s door got damaged when towing started while the plane was still attached to the aerobridge. As a result, all the passengers were taken to another aircraft. “But the woman pilot of the second aircraft refused to accommodate the extra passengers and this forced the crew and pilot to tamper with the passenger records,” said a senior government official.
The DGCA had originally launched a probe only into the door damage incident. But the probe into a comparatively routine incident led to the unearthing of startling security and safety violations when investigators discovered that the passenger details of the two flights did not match and that three additional passengers had been issued tickets.
Sources said that the flight records of the damaged aircraft mentioned 173 passengers and six infants. But records in the second aircraft showed 173 adults and three infants. “It is impossible that the three infants ran away from the flight on their own and did not board the second flight. During the probe, it emerged that the excess passengers were shown as infants to avoid any suspicion,” said the official. Sources said that of the three extra passengers - all women - one was accommodated in the cockpit and two occupied the foldable seats used by cabin crew during take-off and landing.
By doctoring the records to show the three extra adults as infants, the airline staff sought to hide the fact that the flight was exceeding the weight capacity it can safely carry. This gross violation of air safety norms was confirmed by the analysis of the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), which established the presence of a woman passenger in the cockpit.
“During replay of the CVR tapes, it became clear that a woman who was not a crew member was talking with the pilot,” said the official. Sources said that the three extra passengers were all women, and were family members of airline officials.
While the DGCA has taken a serious view of this violation, and has reportedly even threatened AI with a criminal case under the Aircraft Rules, the airline has already derostered nine employees, including two pilots.
