00:00Air India is facing fresh scrutiny after sources told Bloomberg that the captain of a flight that suddenly dropped about
00:06300 feet last week has tested positive for illegal drugs.
00:10More than 20 people were injured in the incident. Bloomberg's India Aviation and Infrastructure reporter Mihir Mishra joins us now
00:16from New Delhi.
00:18So, Mihir, with the pilot testing positive, what's the next course of action for the airline and investigating agencies?
00:26Yeah, so, hi. Good morning from New Delhi, Paul. You know, the pilot has been tested positive in the second
00:32test as well, which means it's confirmed he has failed both dope tests.
00:37So, the inquiry is now, this will be the key part of the inquiry when the investigators look at this
00:44particular incident as to what it means that the pilot was not in his full senses to be able to
00:51react according to the situation.
00:53If at all it was a turbulence, or was it not a turbulence, or was it something that was, was
01:00it a mechanical failure, was it a turbulence?
01:03Amidst all this, the reaction of the pilot in such situations is the most critical bit, which the investigators will
01:10look at.
01:10For the time being, the pilot is de-rostered, and he is off-flying. Both pilot and co-pilot are
01:16de-rostered.
01:18The investigation is now done by the Aircraft Accidents Investigation Bureau in India, and that investigation, going by the rules,
01:28the preliminary report will come within a month of the incident.
01:31So, the incident happened on the 4th of July. The first preliminary report is expected by the 4th of August,
01:37and the report is expected by 4th of September.
01:41So, within a month, we should expect a preliminary report that should detail about what happened on that particular day.
01:50Was the pilot's, was the commander's reaction apt? Was the condition that he was in led to late reaction by
02:00the pilot that may have caused this 300 feet plunge of the aircraft on that particular day?
02:06So, all these factors will be looked at, and that is what the status is as of now.
02:14Is it known what the pilot tested positive for, and what happens next in this investigation, and what are the
02:21possible outcomes here?
02:25So, in the pilot report that they submitted upon landing, they have mentioned some sort of a mechanical failure with
02:32the Airbus aircraft.
02:33So, the investigation is being aided by the French Accidents Investigation Regulator, and also Airbus.
02:42This plane was an Airbus 320, so the aircraft OEM is also part of the investigations.
02:47Along with AIB investigators, they will look at all the aspects of the incident.
02:54So, they will look at the fact that what could have caused that mechanical failure.
02:59They will look at, was their mechanical failure as serious as it has been put out in the report?
03:06What could have led to that mechanical failure?
03:08That will be one part of the investigation.
03:10The other part of the investigation would be to look at pilot's response when that particular incident happened,
03:16when, according to sources, the autopilot was disengaged, and the pilots had to gain control.
03:26Was the response time in doing that not apt because the pilot was not in his...
03:32Oh.
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