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On 27 August last year, Jet’s cabin crew noticed what appeared to be an engine fire as its flight (9W302) was taxiing at Mumbai airport with 139 passengers onboard. It turned out to be a false alarm but the evacuation that followed led to some injuries.
“In the process of evacuation, 25 passengers were injured and four of them were seriously injured with multiple fractures on the legs. There was neither smoke nor actual fire in the incident,” the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in an investigation report released on Monday.
The regulator blamed the crew’s handling of the situation, saying they did not have a “basic awareness of the external lights, especially the anti-collision lights of the aircraft,” the regulator said. “During cabin crew SEP (safety and emergency procedure) training, crew were trained for emergency evacuation for fire depending on external situational assessment. However, they were not trained to recognize fire from the engine.”
Jet’s crew also didn’t have “training on over-wing exit evacuation”, it added.
The regulator said some crew members, without coordinating with the cabin crew in-charge, “opened the over-wing exit on right and left side, which (was) the main cause for the injuries to the passengers”.
DGCA in its report recommends action against the cabin crew involved for their lapses, a review of Jet’s evacuation procedures as well as its SEP training based on the findings and contributory factors.
An email to Jet Airways’ spokesperson seeking the airline’s comments on the report remained unanswered.
An expert said the incident showed grey areas in training.
“If they (crew) don’t know the difference between the reflection of anti-collision light and actual fire that doesn’t speak highly of the training standards,” said Mohan Ranganathan, a Chennai-based safety expert and member of the Civil Aviation Safety Advisory Council. “They should seriously enhance the quality of safety and emergency procedure training.”
DGCA has labelled the Jet Airways episode a “serious incident” despite the Indian Aircraft Rules definition that says it is an accident if “any person suffers death or serious injury” or “the aircraft receives substantial damage.”
An “incident” does not warrant a rise in insurance premiums for an airline unlike the “accident” qualification, Ranganathan said.
DGCA could not be immediately reached for comment.
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