24 injured after stall warning on Air India's Phuket–New Delhi flight

Twenty-four people were injured when an Air India Airbus A320 flying from Phuket to New Delhi experienced a stall warning and sudden pitch-up and pitch-down movements on Aug 4, according to a preliminary report by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).

The aircraft was cruising at 36,000 feet with the seatbelt signs off when the incident occurred. Investigators said it initially climbed 372 feet before descending to 292 feet below its previous altitude, throwing passengers and cabin crew against overhead bins.

The stall warning lasted two seconds. The flight-control system had detected the loss of all three hydraulic systems within four seconds, disengaging the autopilot and triggering a continuous cockpit alarm, the report said. The systems began recovering about nine seconds after the first loss.

The report did not establish why pressure was lost in all three hydraulic systems, saying the matter required further investigation. The 32-year-old first officer was flying the aircraft when the incident occurred, and the 34-year-old captain later took control, investigators said.

The AAIB also said the captain returned a “non-negative” result in a confirmatory test for psychoactive substances. It did not identify the substance. A source told Reuters last month that the substance was marijuana.

Air India said it was fully cooperating with the investigation and had provided access to operational, maintenance and technical records. The airline is carrying out one-time mandatory substance testing for all pilots, while India is considering annual drug testing of all pilots, compared with the current requirement for 10% to be tested each year.

The incident adds to scrutiny of Air India following the June 2025 crash of one of its Boeing 787s in Ahmedabad, which killed 260 people.