Air India Jet Lost Flight Controls, Airbus Finds

An Air India Airbus A320 that dropped about 300 feet in mid-flight this month briefly lost essential flight controls after registering losses in all three of its hydraulic systems, according to a preliminary Airbus analysis reviewed by Reuters.

Twenty-four people on board were injured. The plane landed safely in Delhi.

Separately, the flight's captain tested positive for marijuana in a confirmatory drug test, according to a source familiar with the matter cited by Reuters. No link between that result and the altitude loss has been established.

What Airbus Found

The aircraft's elevators and ailerons — the surfaces that control pitch and roll — were unavailable for about four seconds, during which the plane pitched upward, Airbus said in a communication responding to an Air India request for an assessment.

During those seconds the first officer applied a full nose-down input. There was "no direct response" from the flight-control surfaces before the hydraulic systems recovered, Airbus said.

Airbus asked Air India to run checks on the plane's systems and sensors and to provide more information about the incident. The planemaker did not establish a root cause.