A co-pilot sent an international passenger jet into a terrifying 2000-metre nosedive when he adjusted his seat and accidentally pushed the control column forward.
The 25-year-old officer then panicked and was unable to let the captain, who had gone on a toilet break, back into the cockpit as the plane plunged.
The captain only saved the Boeing 737 aircraft after using an emergency code to get through the cockpit door and take the controls back from the co-pilot, the report by India’s Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said.
The report said there was “complete commotion” in the cabin and that 113 passengers were “very much scared and were shouting loudly” as the plane dived steeply.
The Air India Express flight was flying at 37,000 feet from Dubai to Pune airport, in western India, on May 26 when the near-disaster occurred. No one was injured.
Four days earlier, another Air India Express flight had crashed at Mangalore airport, killing 158 people. A report blamed a sleepy pilot.
Source: The Age and AFP
