Poor crew management led to death on SpiceJet flight: Report
In its findings, AAIB highlighted the accident was caused by the poor Crew Resource Management (CRM) and decision making on part of the crew.
Poor crew resource management led to a situation where one person died and at least 20 people were injured during turbulence on a SpiceJet flight in May 2022, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has found in its investigation.
In its findings, AAIB highlighted the accident was caused by the poor Crew Resource Management (CRM) and decision making on part of the crew.
“Accident was caused by the poor CRM (crew resource management) and decision making on part of the crew to penetrate bad weather and not maintaining specified separation from turbulence prone weather,” the report said.
“Due to insufficient time for securing the cabin, the cabin crew could not ascertain if all passengers had seat belts ON. Passenger not complying with seat belt instructions led to avoidable injuries as aircraft encountered severe turbulence,” it said.
The Mumbai-Durgapur flight, with 189 passengers and six crew members on board, encounter severe turbulence on May 1, 2022. Passengers, who were not wearing seat belts, were thrown from their seats sustaining severe injuries.
The AAIB observed that as announcement from the flight deck was made for all crew and passengers to be seated, cabin crew did not get sufficient time to ascertain if passengers beyond eight rows had their seat belts fastened.
It recommended that the operator should ensure that procedure for recurring defect monitoring and control is followed (by the airline) in letter and spirit.
It also said that aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), airport operators and airlines should conduct campaigns to raise awareness about the importance of seat-belts among passengers travelling by air.