Pilot error led to Air India Express Kozhikode crash: Report

The Air India Express plane crash in Kozhikode on August 7, 2020, was due to pilot’s error, Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau (AAIB) said in its report released today.
“The probable cause of the accident was the non-adherence to SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) by the PF (Pilot Flying), wherein, he continued an unstabilised approach and landed beyond the touchdown zone, half way down the runway, in spite of ‘Go Around’ call by PM (Pilot Monitoring) which warranted a mandatory ‘Go Around’ and the failure of the PM to take over controls and execute a ‘Go Around’,” the report read.

The crash of Air India Express's B737-800 aircraft coming from Dubai happened on August 7 last year – Severe rains and bad weather conditions were being reported in Kerala during that period. The plane coming from Dubai landed under severe weather conditions and only after aborting landing attempts twice and overshot the runway in its third attempt and later broke into two pieces.

The plane had 190 people onboard and at least 20 people, including the two pilots, were killed and several others were injured.

The report also adds that the over confidence of the pilot on account of his several landings at this airport and ‘un-prescribed anti-diabetic drugs could also have contributed.

“The PIC had vast experience of landing at Kozhikode under similar weather conditions. This experience might have led to over confidence leading to complacency and a state of reduced conscious attention that would have seriously affected his actions, decision making as well as CRM (Crew Resource Management),” the report reads.

“The Pilot-in-Command was taking multiple un-prescribed anti-diabetic drugs that could have probably caused subtle cognitive deficits due to mild hypoglycaemia which probably contributed to errors in complex decision making as well as susceptibility to perceptual errors,” the report says.

It also adds that the windshield wiper, which stopped working according to transcripts, could have been a reason too.

The investigation report noted that the role of systemic failures as a contributory factor cannot be overlooked in the plane accident.

“A large number of similar accidents/incidents that have continued to take place, more so in AIXL (Air India Express), reinforce existing systemic failures within the aviation sector. These usually occur due to prevailing safety culture that give rise to errors, mistakes and violation of routine tasks performed by people operating within the system," said the report.