Air India Express flight shuts down engine after oil pressure drops at 36,000 feet, lands overweight in Cochin

Air India Express flight IX 415 turned back to Cochin after its crew detected a rapidly falling oil quantity in Engine 1 while the Boeing 737 was flying at 36,000 feet. The aircraft later landed safely after the crew shut down the engine, but passengers did not know how serious the situation had become in the cockpit.

The flight had been heading from Cochin to Abu Dhabi and was about 50 minutes into the journey when the pilot and co-pilot noticed the oil level falling quickly. The crew carried out a FORDEC assessment and decided to abandon the Abu Dhabi sector and return to Cochin.

The commander informed Mumbai Radio over high frequency that the aircraft was turning back. During the diversion, both pilots monitored the engine parameters and prepared for possible contingencies. About 45 minutes after the turnback, the oil pressure in Engine 1 began fluctuating and entered the red zone on the cockpit gauge.

The crew then followed the Non-Normal Checklist and shut down Engine 1. Landing an overweight Boeing 737 on one engine is a high-workload and high-risk maneuver, but the crew completed the landing smoothly at Cochin International Airport.

The incident comes amid frequent technical diversions involving Indian carriers. The report noted that it followed the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s preliminary findings on the Air India Phuket-to-Delhi flight, in which Airbus technical experts inspected the aircraft for three days alongside investigators. Hydraulic components and samples were collected for further analysis.

After the Phuket-to-Delhi incident, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation would increase the annual percentage of psychoactive-substance tests for flight crew. The latest Air India Express event has raised a separate question about whether the Civil Aviation Ministry will tighten the framework for DGCA safety audits.

The US Federal Aviation Administration reviews national safety oversight under its International Aviation Safety Assessment program roughly once every five years. India’s last major IASA audit took place in October 2021, and the next is expected in November this year. Official comment from Air India Express and the DGCA was awaited.

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The DGCA would raise the annual percentage of psychoactive substance tests for flight crew.