Rahul Gandhi. (PTI file photo)

NEW DELHI: On a day when Congress president and "Shiv bhakt" Rahul Gandhi left for Kailash Mansarovar pilgrimage, aviation authorities released the probe report of an aircraft scare which had prompted him to unertake the 'yatra'.

The Congress scion was flying from Delhi to Hubli, Karnataka, on April 26 in a Falcon 2000 luxury business jet. A flight computer snag when the aircraft was cruising at 41,000 feet led to the auto pilot tripping. But an inadvertent delay of about 15 seconds by the pilots in taking over manual control of the plane saw it banking sharply to right and having a free fall of about 730 feet. Rahul Gandhi had said the incident made him think, "gadi gayi (it's all over). I have to go to Kailash Mansarovar ."

An expert panel set up by the aviation ministry to probe this incident released its report on Friday evening, stating that "the incident was survivable." The 18-year-old aircraft (VT-AVH), belonging to Ligare Aviation, had taken off from Delhi at 9.23am with five passengers, including Rahul, two pilots, an aircraft engineer and a cabin crew member. At 11.02am, the aircraft, which was then cruising at 41,000 feet on auto pilot, suddenly developed a snag (in its yaw damper, a device that reduces the rolling and oscillations).

This possibly happened due to a fault in the flight control computer (number 2) and led to the auto pilot disengaging. The situation got aggravated as the pilots delayed taking manual control of the aircraft "due to lack of situational awareness."

"…both the crew (pilots) got busy analysing the fault and did not realise the aircraft has gone into a bank… The crew only realised when the bank angle warning came at 45 degree. The bank angle kept on increasing with altitude loss and reached a maximum of 64.95 degrees. The crew initiated corrective action to control the aircraft altitude 15 seconds after the auto pilot got disengaged. The PIC (pilot in command) actions were slightly delayed as he took over control manually only after the warning was activated," says the report by the two-member probe panel comprising of two Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) senior officers, deputy director (air safety) A X Joseph and deputy director (airworthiness) N C Ghosh.

"This delayed action caused the aircraft to reach high bank angle value and altitude loss which created panic and scare for the passengers in the cabin," the report adds.

After the initial delay, the PIC took over control manually and stabilised the aircraft. The crew then climbed back to the assigned level of 41,000 feet.

Hyderabad air traffic control was monitoring the aircraft on radar. It noticed the sudden descent of aircraft and immediately called up VT-AVH for reasons of descent. "When the aircraft banked to the right and descended the PIC did not declare any emergency to Hyderabad (ATC). The crew as per the procedure tried to reengage the autopilot. However, it did not happen," the report says.

There was no injury to anyone on board and the plane landed in Hubli safely. The pilots were later given corrective training.

"The aircraft landed safely at Hubli with auto pilot disengage. During inspection at Hubli, the fault could not be confirmed during ground checks. The auto pilot function(ed) normally during the return flight from Hubli to Delhi. During detailed inspection at Delhi, the fault could not be confirmed, however the number two flight control computer was suspected for a transient fault and was removed and sent to the vendor for shop investigation. As per shop report, the failure was due to intermittent configuration module.. the same was replaced with newer version and unit was made serviceable," the report adds.

The scare became a major political slugfest between the Congress and BJP in poll-bound Karnataka. The then Congress government in Karnataka lodged a police complaint against the aircraft operator and its crew for criminal negligence. The Business Aircraft Operators' Association (BAOA) had opposed the police action, saying DGCA was the only agency that can probe aircraft snags and decried politicisation of this snag.

"All such incidents are mandatorily investigated by DGCA, which is the only authorised agency to determine the causes for the incident and fix responsibility. Any attempt to use such incidents for political purpose is totally uncalled for, as it would result in avoidable stress on pilots involved in such VIP flights and adversely affect the flight safety environment. …we strongly urge all political parties to facilitate us maintain the highest level of flight safety standards in all GA/BA flights," BAOA had then said in a statement.

