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Pilots' group ALPA India seeks fair, fact-based probe into AI plane crash

Pilots' group ALPA India seeks fair, fact-based probe into AI plane crash

Airline Pilots' Association of India on Saturday demanded a fair and fact-based probe into the Air India plane crash as it claimed that the tone and direction of the investigation into the Air India plane crash suggests a bias towards pilot error.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has released its preliminary report into the fatal Boeing 787-8 plane crash on June 12 that killed 260 people. The report has found that the fuel supply to both engines of Air India flight AI171 was cut off within a second of each other, causing confusion in the cockpit and the airplane plummeting back to ground almost immediately after taking off.
The 15-page report says that in the cockpit voice recording, one unidentified pilot asked the other why he had cut off the fuel, which the other denied.
"The tone and direction of the investigation suggest a bias towards pilot error... ALPA India categorically rejects this presumption and insists on a fair, fact-based inquiry," Airline Pilots' Association of India (ALPA) said in a statement.
The association has also demanded that its representatives should be observers in the investigation process to ensure transparency and accountability.
ALPA Indiais a member associate of the International Federation of Airline Pilots' Association (IFALPA).
(Only the headline and picture of this report may have been reworked by the Business Standard staff; the rest of the content is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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Why the unsigned AI 171 accident report patently fails to meet the test of credibility If the sole purpose of investigations is to meet deadlines, Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has done well. International rules gave it 30 days to submit a preliminary report about June 12's AI 171 Dreamliner crash, and it pushed 15 pages past the finish line on Saturday. Unfortunately, most experts have assessed the report to be short on substance. Preliminary reports cannot be conclusive, but they should begin to shed light. Families of the 270 deceased and the rest of humanity are none the wiser. The report's authors admit: 'At this stage…no definitive cause has been determined.' All we know for sure now is that three seconds after takeoff, fuel supply to both engines stopped. Two possibilities arise. A pilot cut it off by flipping two switches – one for each engine. Or that the switches were faulty. Without facts, plausibility is a matter of preference. Are humans more fragile than mechanical devices? Deliberately switching off engines at 650ft is suicidal, yet some would subscribe to this view. The issue with AAIB's report is that it appears to push this possibility. It says one pilot asked the other why he had flipped the switches, and the other replied he hadn't. We don't know the pilots' exact words, nor who asked and who answered. We don't know what was said before and after. Just two cherry-picked sentences paraphrased in a way that they slyly implicate the two pilots who cannot defend themselves anymore. If pilot dialogue is material to the probe, so is the fact that seven years ago the US aviation regulator found fuel control switches used in some Boeing 737s – similar to those in Dreamliners – had been installed with their locking feature disengaged. VT-ANB – the lost Dreamliner – was built four years before that discovery. AAIB's report acknowledges this possibility, but doesn't buttress it like the alternate possibility of deliberate pilot action. The fact that no active airline pilots were involved in the investigation, and that the report was submitted unsigned, raises more questions. As does Western media's access to these findings two days before their official release. AAIB has met its deadline and may consider its job done, but considering how its 'narrative' – the 'findings' are ambiguous – has injured the reputations of AI 171's pilots, it should reveal its findings in detail. Facebook Twitter Linkedin Email This piece appeared as an editorial opinion in the print edition of The Times of India.

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