Hydraulics fail in seconds, no route diversion: 3 questions AAIB report on Phuket-Delhi flight doesn’t answer
The AAIB report on Phuket-Delhi Air India flight does not explain why all three systems failed simultaneously or how they were able to recover within seconds.
On August 9, 2027, a preliminary report from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau confirmed an exceptionally rare incident during an AI Phuket-Delhi flight. The A320neo aircraft, carrying 145 passengers, experienced a sudden loss of all three hydraulic systems at 36,000 feet. Within four seconds, the green, blue, and yellow hydraulic systems dropped out, triggering an autopilot disengagement, a stall warning, and a brief altitude upset that injured 24 passengers.
The flight control system detected the loss of all three hydraulic systems at 9:32:43am IST. During the incident, the aircraft initially gained 372 feet and then fell by 292 feet from its assigned flight level. The cause of the triple hydraulic failure was not determined in the preliminary report, but the investigation is ongoing.
Hydraulic pressure is crucial for moving an aircraft's control surfaces, and the A320 carries three independent hydraulic circuits to ensure flight safety. The last total hydraulic loss occurred in 1985 with a Boeing 747; the report stated that such failures are considered close to unthinkable for the A320 aircraft, which has a triple-redundant hydraulic design.
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- AI Phuket-Delhi flight incident: All 3 hydraulics failed in ‘exceptionally rare’ event timesofindia.indiatimes.com
