Kochi: An Air India Express flight from Cochin to Abu Dhabi was forced to turn back mid-flight after the crew detected a rapidly falling oil quantity in Engine 1.
The engine had to be shut down after oil pressure entered the danger zone to prevent a flame out.
Flight IX 415 was being operated by a Boeing 737, as reported by The Times of India.
Passengers were unaware of the drama unfolding inside the cockpit till the aircraft landed back safely at the Cochin International Airport.
The aircraft was around 50 minutes into the flight and cruising at 36,000 feet when the pilot and co-pilot noticed Engine 1 oil quantity dropping rapidly. The crew carried out a FORDEC assessment. As the oil quantity continued to fall, they decided to abandon the Abu Dhabi sector and return to Cochin, sources said.
The flight commander then contacted Mumbai Radio on high frequency and informed ATC that the flight was turning back to Cochin. Standard safety procedures were followed as the aircraft reversed course.
Both pilots closely monitored the engine parameters during the diversion and prepared for every possible contingency. Around 45 minutes after the turn back, Engine 1 oil pressure began fluctuating and entered the red zone on the cockpit gauge, indicating a drop into the danger range. The crew then followed the Non-Normal Checklist (NNC) and shut down the engine.
While landing an overweight Boeing 737 on a single engine is a high-workload, high-risk manoeuvre, the crew completed the landing smoothly. The cabin crew ensured that passengers remained unaware of the gravity of the situation in the cockpit.
The incident comes days after a Delhi-bound IndiGo flight was forced to do a u-turn and return to Goa after a technical issue with one of its engines.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) recently released its preliminary findings on the Air India Phuket-Delhi flight that plunged by 300 feet on August 4. The trouble was attributed to hydraulic failure.
The Air India Express engine-oil incident now raises a parallel question over whether the Ministry of Civil Aviation will tighten the framework governing DGCA safety audits.
