Air India flight 619 was being prepared for a flight to Hyderabad when the technician got sucked into the engine
India's flag carrier Air India is investigating a freak accident in which
one of its ground engineers got sucked into the running engine of an aircraft at the Mumbai airport on Wednesday. The aircraft, a relatively new Airbus A-319, has been isolated and its engine is being dismantled to recover the body.
Ravi Subramaniam was pulled into the engine four minutes before the aircraft was to take off for Hyderabad at around 8.40 pm.
Air India sources say miscommunication between the co-pilot and the engineer may have caused the horrifying accident. The co-pilot, who was a trainee, and the pilot, a senior captain, have both been grounded for investigations.
The airline is inquiring into a possible lapse in the usual start-up sequence before a flight takes off.
Here is what should have happened.
On being towed out to the tarmac by a tug, the pilot applies the parking brake.
A ground engineer connects the headphone and mic to a port near the nose wheel of the aircraft.
The pilot asks the Ground Engineer whether first the right side and subsequently the left side engine is "clear to start."
After the Ground Engineer gives clearance, the pilot says: "Ground, clear to disconnect. Hand signals at your convenience."
The ground engineer tells the pilot, "Goodbye Captain. Hand signals from left."
The pilot waits and does nothing until he sees the engineer forward and to the left of him.
The ground controller shows the pilot a safety pin he has removed from the undercarriage of the aircraft and gives a thumbs up.
The pilot cannot taxi until he sees the signal. The co-pilot then looks both ways to check for obstructions and says "clear left and clear right", after which they move.
Sources say in yesterday's incident, the ground engineer was to the right of the aircraft, though this is not necessarily a violation if the pilot has been informed. Officials are investigating whether the co-pilot gave an all-clear before the aircraft moved.
The engineer was sucked into the right engine of the Airbus.