Report: Commander’s reclined seat led to AI Express crash at Trichy

MUMBAI: The accident involving an Air India Express aircraft that took off from Trichy for Muscat, with a lacerated belly, occurred due to events set into motion by a sudden and unexpected reclining of the commander’s seat, according to the final investigation report released recently by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB). The reclined seat had the commander inadvertently move back the thrust levers.

The aircraft consumed the full length of the runway, rolled past the paved surface and its tail struck the soft ground on lift-off. It did a sluggish climb, downed antennas of a ground-based navigation aid, hit the airport boundary wall and sustained a gaping belly wound.