MUMBAI: In a rare incident, 30 passengers were left with bleeding noses and ears and many of the 171 on board an early morning Jet Airways flight to Jaipur on Thursday experienced excruciating ear ache as the air-conditioning system that maintains the pressure inside the aircraft cabin at comfortable levels remained switched off till a warning sounded at 10,000 feet.Oxygen masks were deployed and the plane landed back at Mumbai airport within 45 minutes of takeoff. “While climbing, the crew forgot to select ‘bleed switch’ due to which cabin pressurisation could not be maintained,” said Lalit Gupta, joint DG, Directorate General of Civil Aviation. Both pilots have been grounded. The Aircaft Accident Investigation Bureau has begun an inquiry.Jet said the five passengers who were bleeding were taken to hospital and have been discharged, adding that 144 of the 166 passengers later travelled to Jaipur by an alternative flight.The switch that works the crucial air-conditioning in the pressurised cabin is usually kept on. “Omission of such vital items after takeoff checklist, such as putting engine bleeds ON, is sheer negligence of the standard operating procedure which could have led to a major emergency if both the pilots had also suffered an ear injury, like some of the passengers,” said a senior pilot.Ankur Gala, 38, one of the five passengers taken to Nanavati Hospital, had bloodstains on his trousers. “It felt like a pin was being pierced in both my ears. Passengers were in a state of shock,” he said. “Even after the oxygen masks dropped, there was no announcement or any instruction from the cabin crew. I put on the mask, but blood from my nose collected into the mask and dripped on my clothes,” he added.Dr Rajendra Patankar, COO, Nanavati Hospital, said they received five patients from the airport between 11 and 12pm. “They have suffered barotrauma with bleeding from nose and/or ear. All patients are hemo-dynamically stable as of now and are advised to avoid air travel for at least a week and follow up with the consultant.”The Boeing 737 took off from Mumbai airport at 6.15am. Aircraft climb at a rate of about 1,500 feet per minute and so the Jet aircraft would have crossed 10,000 feet altitude within 5-6 minutes, which was when the cabin altitude aural warning would have gone off. “The pilots must have turned on the bleed air switch following the warning which comes on at 10,000 feet,” explained a commander.(Inputs by Sumitra Deb Roy and Malathy Iyer) Full report on www.toi.in

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