Jet flight evacuation: DGCA suspends 2 pilots, 8 crew members

The Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) today suspended the two pilots and eight crew members of a Jet Airways flight after finding "serious procedural lapses" in dealing with an emergency and evacuation situation on an aircraft that was about to leave for Chennai from Mumbai last night.

Those placed under suspension till further orders were the pilot in command, the first officer, four cabin crew members and four additional crew members (ACMs), an official statement said here.

"Preliminary fact finding by the DGCA has indicated serious procedural lapses in dealing with the emergency and evacuation situation as per existing procedures laid down in aircraft rules and regulations, by the operating aircraft crew members of the Jet airways flight 9W2302 scheduled to fly from Mumbai to Chennai yesterday," the statement said.

The statement said the incident had been treated as a "serious incident" and would be investigated under rule 77C of Aircraft Rules 1937 by a team comprising the Director, Air Safety, Mumbai, Flight Operation Inspector and Cabin Safety In-charge of DGCA.

The flight had, apart from the pilot and co-pilot, four cabin crew members, as per the requirements, 131 passengers, including one infant, and nine ACMs (eight cabin crew and one trainee pilot).

While the aircraft was taxiing prior to take-off, an ACM, travelling as a passenger, seated on seat 35A, apparently saw fire on the left engine and informed another ACM, also travelling as a passenger, seated next to him, who also claimed to have seen the fire.

The second ACM immediately wen to the rear of the aircraft and contacted the captain from aft right door location (R-2). He also informed the cabin crew assinged for aft left door (L2).

According to the statement, the pilot immediately asked L2 cabin crew to confirm the fire and report to him. She also confirmed the fire to the captain, it said.

The pilot in command, on receiving the confirmation, pulled the fire handles for left engine, right engine and APU. However, he did not discharge any of the fire bottles. He ordered the evacuation from the aircraft. Escape slides on front and aft doors on the right side (R1 & R2) and both the over wing emergency exits were deployed. On the left side, the aft door (L2) and rear over wing emergency exit were also deployed. The airport fire and rescue services personnel immediately reached the site.

During the evacuation, 14 passengers suffered injuries. After the evacuation , an inspection of the aircraft was carried out in the night itself under supervision of a DGCA team. No fire or smoke was observed in the engine area. Both the engines were checked and boroscope inspection was carried out. No abnormality was observed in engines and its systems.

The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the digital flight data recorder (DFDR) of the Boeing 737 aircraft have been removed by the DGCA for further investigations, the statement said.

The DGCA has also called for a meeting of the heads of training of all airlines to review the training procedures of cabin and flight crews, particularly in emergency and evacuation procedures, it added.

Meanwhile, Jet Airways said in a statement that the safety of its passengers was of paramount importance to it and regretted the inconvenience caused by the incident.

It said the commander of the flight, while taxiing, was informed of an indication of an LH engine fire.

"Although there were no visible traces of a fire, the commander proceeded to declare a precautionary emergency. All passengers onboard were then deplaned safely and a thorough inspection of the engine carried out," it said.

The airline said about 12 passengers suffered minor injuries during the emergency evacuation process.

"The rest of the guests were brought to the terminal and reaccomodated on another aircraft to Chennai," it added.

NNN