An Air India passenger jet in India went into a steep dive right after takeoff, injuring 24 people, and the captain reportedly tested positive for marijuana. It has not been confirmed whether the positive marijuana result caused the incident.
According to Reuters and Bloomberg on the 12th local time, on the 4th an Air India A320 passenger jet experienced an abnormal phenomenon in which its altitude dropped sharply by about 91 meters right after takeoff while en route from Phuket, Thailand, to New Delhi, India.
The jet then regained altitude and landed at New Delhi airport. There were 137 passengers and 8 crew on board, and 24 people, including 20 passengers and 4 crew, were injured during the steep dive.
India's civil aviation ministry conducted psychoactive substance tests on two pilots immediately after the incident. When the captain's initial test came back positive, the sample was reanalyzed for confirmation, and both pilots were removed from flight duty until the final results come out.
Reuters and Bloomberg, citing sources, reported that the captain also tested positive for marijuana in the second test. Indian outlet NDTV reported the same.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) of India is collecting technical and operational evidence from the time of the incident and is investigating the exact cause. It has not yet been determined whether the captain's positive marijuana result is directly related to the steep-dive incident.
AAIB is said to have summoned and questioned former CEO Campbell Wilson, who was Air India's chief executive at the time of the incident, the previous day.
Air India, founded in 1932, is a leading Indian carrier and holds the second-largest market share in India after IndiGo. It was acquired by Tata Group in 2022 and in 2024 merged with Vistara, a joint venture of Tata Group and Singapore Airlines.
Air India posted a record net loss of more than $2.3 billion (about 3.37 trillion won) in the 2025–2026 fiscal year that ended in March. Management burdens also increased due to the airspace closure following armed clashes between India and Pakistan in May last year and a passenger jet crash in June of the same year that killed 260 people.