Ahmedabad plane crash saw Air India flooded with sick-leave requests: 112 pilots fell ill in 4 days

More than 100 Air India pilots reported sick just four days after a devastating Boeing 787 Dreamliner crash in Ahmedabad claimed 274 lives, raising questions about the mental health and readiness of airline crew.

The ill-fated Dreamliner, en route to London crashed shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad, losing thrust mid-air and crashing into a hostel building located about two kilometres from the airport. Among the dead were 260 passengers and crew.

In a written response to a question in the Lok Sabha, Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol said that on June 16, a total of 112 Air India pilots reported unfit for duty. This included 51 commanders and 61 first officers, spanning the airline’s entire fleet.

The disclosure was made in reply to an unstarred question raised by MP Jai Prakash, who sought clarity on media reports of a sudden spike in sick leave among Air India’s flight crew following the crash.

Addressing concerns about pilot stress and mental well-being, the minister noted that the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) had already issued detailed mental health guidelines in February 2023. These are applicable to both flight crew and Air Traffic Control Officers (ATCOs), and aim to strengthen psychological support systems within the aviation sector.

These include easy and quick mental health checks by DGCA-approved medical examiners during regular medical exams. Special training modules to help crew and ATCOs understand and deal with mental health challenges.

A Peer Support Programme (PSP) that allows employees to seek help in a safe and supportive manner without fear of punishment. Earlier, on July 21, answering a question about the probe into the AI-171 crash, Union Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu that the decoding of the Black Box had occurred in India for the first time.

Addressing the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister Naidu said, ”First set of the probe is done and a preliminary report is out. Earlier, whenever Black Box had slight damage, the black box used to be sent to the manufacturer for decoding. For the first time, the decoding of the Black Box has happened in India.”

Lauding the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), Naidu said that the agency is ”unbiased.”

With inputs from agencies