GoAir pilots shut down wrong engine, restarts it after bird-hit: report

While engine number 2 of the flight was affected due to the bird-strike, the pilots of the GoAir plane decided to shut down engine number 1.

New Delhi: The pilots of a GoAir flight going from Delhi to Mumbai shut down the wrong engine after a bird-strike incident on June 21, 2017, the aviation regulator Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) said in a report.

While engine number 2 of the flight was affected due to the bird-strike, the pilots of the GoAir plane decided to shut down engine number 1, the report said.

Once the aircraft stopped climbing at an altitude of 3,330 feet, the pilots "realised their mistake", and consequently started engine 1 and brought back the plane to Delhi airport, said the report dated November 5, 2018.

"(The) incident was caused by incorrect identification of engine affected with high vibration followed by non-adherence to recommended procedures, lack of situational awareness, poor cockpit resource management and poor handling of aircraft during emergency subsequent to bird strike," it said.

The probe report has recommended that "suitable corrective action" should be taken against both the pilots "as deemed by the DGCA headquarters in view of the above findings".

The incident happened on an A320 aircraft, which had a total 156 passengers, at 5:58 am on June 21, 2017. The investigation found that during take-off, the aircraft encountered bird strike on engine 2.