Air India 171 crash: Pilots’ union slams secrecy in probe

Airline Pilots’ Association of India urges government to include them in the ongoing probe to maintain transparency in the investigation

New Delhi: The Airline Pilots’ Association of India (ALPA) on Saturday raised concerns over the preliminary findings by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) for blaming pilots of the ill-fated plane for the crash.

ALPA India President Captain Sam Thomas urged the government to include them in the ongoing probe into the Air India AI-171 crash, to maintain transparency in the investigation.

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On June 12, Air India flight AI 171 — a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner — went down shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad, killing 260 people, including 241 on board the aircraft, and 19 on the ground.

“We feel that the investigation is being driven in a direction presuming the guilt of pilots and we strongly object to this line of thought,” Captain Thomas said in a statement.

“We once again request the powers that be to include us even in the capacity of observers so as to provide the requisite transparency in the investigations,” he added.

Captain Thomas also raised concerns over “the secrecy surrounding these investigations” being done while keeping the pilots in the dark. ALPA also criticised the AAIB for releasing documents without official signatures and called for immediate reform.

“We are surprised that a document so crucial has been given to the media without any responsible person signing it. In the wake of the aforementioned points, we once again request the powers that be to include us even in the capacity of observers so as to provide the requisite transparency in the investigations,” it said.

According to the AAIB preliminary report, both fuel control switches supplying fuel to the engines of Air India Flight 171 were turned off in quick succession, shutting down both engines.

One of the pilots can be heard on the cockpit voice recorder, asking the other why he cut off the fuel, to which the other pilot responded by saying that “he did not”, the report mentioned.

Meanwhile, top aviation expert Mark Martin told IANS that no pilot is stupid, or inept, to want to play around with switches in the middle section of the cockpit when all attention is focused on forward flight cockpit instruments located in front of the pilots, during take-off and landing.

“It is highly unlikely that any pilot, especially during take-off would want to meddle or fiddle around with switches behind the thrust levels. At best, you would focus on raising the landing gear which is located in the front panel of the cockpit, or raise the flaps,” the expert explained, adding that it is imperative to wait for the entire, comprehensive investigation report to come out.