Power, perception, precision: notes from covering a plane crash
On the afternoon of June 12, when the Air India flight bound for London crashed into a medical college shortly after take off in Ahmedabad, I was assigned to cover the incident. In this age of technology, where reporters are expected to provide updates in real time, our most vital organ is not the pen and notepad, but the mobile phone. Whether we are covering political rallies, protests, natural disasters, or accidents, we are perpetually tethered to our devices. We use them to mail stories, shoot videos, click photographs, make dozens of calls, and coordinate with the newsroom. As our biggest fear is that our phone battery will die, every one of us has a power bank. This has become as essential as a press card. Many journalists carry multiple backups and some even lug around the monstrous 50,000 mAh power bricks that resemble mini-inverters. Our phones are our lifelines.
I went to the accident site prepared, with a bag full of devices. Yet during the long hours at the crash site and at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, where bodies were brought in for identification and autopsy, I didn't use my power bank.
This wasn't because there wasn't work. My phone battery dwindled in sync with my energy reserves. Yet somehow, I managed. This is because help came from an unexpected source: the extension boards scattered across the hospital premises. They were not there specifically for journalists, but for everyone gathered there: grieving family members, tireless volunteers, and reporters. The extension boards gave everyone a moment to recharge literally and figuratively.
There were people everywhere offering help in different ways. Volunteers from various Hindu organisations, including the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, the Vishva Hindu Parishad, and local NGOs, along with a few Muslim groups, ensured that food, buttermilk, cold drinks, and glucose-infused water were being supplied at the hospital round the clock. One scorching afternoon, while I was outside the morgue, a man tapped my shoulder and insisted that I drink glucose water. That small gesture and many others like it revealed the depth of the coordinated relief effort.
The premises were always kept clean. Every time someone drank buttermilk or water and leaned to place the empty bottle aside, or looked around for a trash can, housekeeping staff would appear out of nowhere to clear it. Within minutes, every piece of waste was disposed of, no matter how crowded or chaotic the space and the situation.
In short, the worst aviation tragedy in recent times in India was being handled on the ground with precision and thought. In retrospect, I realised that this was not surprising. The crash had made international headlines. Dozens of reporters from national and foreign media had flown into the politically significant State of Gujarat, which has been governed by the Bharatiya Janata Party for decades and is the home turf of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Any photograph or short video clip of a stray bottle or pile of trash left unattended in one of Asia's largest public hospitals could have easily gone viral. Apparently, even a stray bottle risked becoming a political statement. And that, it seemed, was not a risk anyone was willing to take.
What stayed with me was not just the sorrow of the families, but also the manner in which the tragedy was handled. Even amid the grief, the quiet control being exercised was unmistakable.
deshpande.abhinay@thehindu.co.in
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Time of India
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Time of India
2 hours ago
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The AAIB had recently acquired domestic capacity to retrieve such records, which was an achievement. Yet, it should have recognised the need for exercising greater vigilance, at least for two reasons. This investigation was its first such exercise and, therefore, would have come under closer scrutiny by global stakeholders in the aviation sector. Equally important, even a remote suggestion that absolved either the aircraft manufacturer or the airline operating it, or the pilots commanding that ill-fated flight would have been inherently controversial. Thirdly, the crash of Air India 171 was the first such accident that took place after the airline was privatised in January 2022. Since the Tatas took over Air India, its services have been under watch. There were many incidents involving passenger misbehaviour during flights, which could have been handled more maturely and carefully. There were also reports of aircraft-related incidents, which raised questions about how well the planes had been maintained from a safety point of view. Even though Air India was no longer a state-owned enterprise, the responsibility of the civil aviation ministry was no less than before the ownership change. Finally, the accident took place in Ahmedabad, the capital city of Gujarat. The death of so many people in an aircraft crash in any part of the country would be mourned as a national tragedy. But Gujarat is also the state whose leading politicians are at the helm of the Union government in New Delhi. Indeed, one of the casualties of this accident was a former chief minister of Gujarat, Vijay Rupani. Home Minister Amit Shah visited Ahmedabad the same day of the crash and Prime Minister Narendra Modi was in the city the following day. Beyond the tragic loss of so many lives in the aircraft and on the ground, the political sensitivity of this accident could hardly be underestimated. Yet, the manner in which the AAIB has handled the investigation would seem to suggest that it was oblivious to the many ramifications of the four factors that made the Ahmedabad air crash uniquely significant. Going by reports, for instance, the composition of the AAIB committee left much to be desired. According to experts, the absence of a pilot knowledgeable about a Dreamliner, which is highly reliant on electronic systems, was quite jarring. Of course, the AAIB should be complimented for the time-bound manner in which it finalised the preliminary report within one month of the accident. But what was the need for releasing the report late in the evening on a Friday? Apart from meeting a deadline, it served no other purpose. On the contrary, it gave rise to needless speculation over what the report revealed, which the AAIB or the aviation ministry made no effort to scotch through an official briefing. The AAIB report was not even signed by any of the members who were part of the committee that investigated the crash and prepared the preliminary report. Some experts have also indicated that the preliminary report failed to capture critical segments of the conversation the two pilots had in the cockpit. Indeed, they have argued that interpreting the entire 40 minutes of the cockpit voice recorder or the flight data recorder would not have taken more than two hours. So, why wasn't that task undertaken to lend clarity to what really happened? Worse, sections of the foreign media seemed to have accessed some segments of the pilots' conversation to present a different perspective on why the aircraft crashed. In a competitive media environment, such reports have fuelled further speculation over the causes of the crash. To be sure, the AAIB has explained in its report that its objective is not to reach conclusions about the reasons of the crash, but to shed light on what happened during those crucial minutes before the plane went down. Both the AAIB and the National Transportation Safety Board of the US have described those media reports about the probable causes of the crash as premature and speculative, based on selective and unverified reporting. But incalculable damage has already been done to the morale of pilots in the industry and to the confidence of ordinary fliers in the country. Could the authorities have prevented such unfortunate developments in the wake of the report on the aircraft crash? Perhaps the civil aviation ministry could have recognised the enormity of this crash and prepared the AAIB and its investigating team for its sensitivities. Perhaps senior retired pilots with experience in flying such state-of-the-art aircraft like the Dreamliner could have been inducted into the investigation committee or their expert views obtained before finalising the report. Perhaps, the ministry and the AAIB could have held more frequent and even informal media interactions to explain the intricacies and dimensions of the accident. Keeping them under wraps and promising to reveal them in the final report after a year was not a good idea. An institutional reform of the AAIB and even the ministry is in order. Undertaking such reforms can be easier if the ministry takes the primary step of filling nearly half the technical posts in its regulatory arm, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation. India is not short of technical people or pilots. Having more of these experts on these bodies would only improve their efficacy and enhance their ability to handle such emergency tasks of conducting investigations into an aircraft crash. And there should be no compromise on making communication faster and more effective. AK Bhattacharya is the Editorial Director, Business Standard. He tweets @AshokAkaybee. Views are personal.
