An Air India Airbus A320 crew attempted to take off from a taxiway at Goa’s Manohar airport, although conditions were clear, and the crew was not under pressure.
The serious incident occurred as the aircraft, VT-EXT, attempted to operate a night service from Goa’s Manohar airport to Hyderabad on 4 December 2024, according to a final report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).
Manohar features a single runway, 10/28, and a parallel taxiway A. On the night of the incident air traffic control asked the crew to taxi to a holding point on runway 28 and granted clearance to take off.
Instead, the crew lined up on the parallel taxiway A and started their take-off roll.
“Shortly after the take-off roll began, air traffic control suspected the aircraft was rolling on a taxiway and instructed the crew to abort the take-off,” says the report.
The crew aborted the take-off at 124kt (229km/h), before the aircraft reached V1. There were no other aircraft or vehicles on the taxiway during the incident, and the aircraft subsequently taxied back to the parking bay.
The AAIB probe concluded that while the incident occurred at night, visibility was good. Moreover, there was no miscommunication or feedback error between the crew and air traffic control.
Crew coordination and cockpit resource management were found to be effective. The report states that a review of the cockpit voice recorder indicates that the crew was not in a hurry or under pressure.
That said, the report reveals that the pilot monitoring, the first officer, was dealing with a login issue with his electronic flight bag (EFB) and pre-takeoff tasks. He therefore had his head down when the pilot flying, the captain, started the take off roll.
In addition, the crew rushed through their pre-take-off checks, and did not cross-check visual aids to ascertain they were on runway 28. The report also observed an experience disparity between the 60-year-old pilot, with 21,500h on the A320, and the 24-year-old first officer, with 140h.
The AAIB offered three safety recommendations following the incident. One is that airline information technology departments should optimise sleep mode settings for EFBs. Moreover, crews need to crosscheck their position using the aircraft moving map feature on the EFB.
The Airports Authority India may also include better procedures around clearing aircraft for take-off before they reach their final holding point, and additional ground systems are also recommended for Manohar airport.
There were seven crew and 151 passengers aboard the A320 at the time of the incident.
