Latest news with #SanjayLazar
The Hindu
17-07-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
‘Wall Street Journal seems to know more than any of us in India': Aviation expert questions leak of AI171 crash details
Following the Wall Street Journal report on the Air India AI171 crash, aviation expert Sanjay Lazar on Thursday (July 17, 2025) expressed concern over the leak of investigation details in the United States. He pointed out that while the American report claims the flight commander may have switched off the fuel controls, India's official preliminary report only contains a short pilot denial and lacks the full cockpit voice recorder transcript. Mr. Lazar questioned why the full cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcript was not shared in the preliminary report by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and said it is worrying that a foreign media outlet appears to have more information than Indian authorities or the public. Speaking to ANI, Sanjay Lazar said, "The Wall Street Journal this morning has released a report, which suggested that the commander of the flight AI171 had undone the fuel switches. The preliminary report of the AAIB of India has only released a single statement, a very bold statement, which says, "Why did you cut it off? And the pilot replied, No, I did not." Given this single statement, I do not believe that there is ample scope for us to make a determination. The preliminary report failed to provide the entire transcript of the CVR. What is strange is that the AAIB preliminary report is being disclosed and leaked in the United States. And that brings a greater worry for all of us in India because this is an independent organisation controlled by the government of India. Yet the Wall Street Journal seems to know more about it than any of us in India, our parliament, or the Civil Aviation Ministry." Mr. Lazar said there should be a judicial probe into the Air India AI171 crash to ensure full transparency and accountability. He said an appeal should be made to the Prime Minister to order an inquiry led by a sitting High Court judge. "The Federation of Indian Pilots has expressed its dissatisfaction with the report and the role of the AAIB. I concur fully with this. We should make an appeal to the Prime Minister of India, seeking complete transparency and a judicial probe into this matter by a sitting High Court judge to ensure accountability and transparency throughout this process," Mr. Lazar said. A cockpit recording of dialogue between the two pilots of the Air India flight that crashed last month indicated that the captain turned off the switches that controlled fuel flowing to the plane's engines, Reuters reported, citing the Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday. As per Reuters, The Wall Street Journal report cited people familiar with U.S. officials' early assessment of evidence uncovered in the investigation into the crash, which killed 260 recording suggested that the first officer, who was flying the Boeing aircraft, opened the new tab 787 Dreamliner, asked the other captain, who was more experienced, why he moved the switches to the "cutoff" position after it climbed off the runway, the report said. The first officer expressed surprise and then panicked, while the captain seemed to remain calm, Reuters reported, citing WSJ. India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Boeing and Air India have not yet responded to the two pilots involved were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder, who had total flying experience of 15,638 hours and 3,403 hours, respectively. A preliminary report released last week by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau depicted confusion in the cockpit shortly before the June 12 crash, and raised fresh questions over the position of the critical engine fuel cutoff switches. Meanwhile, Air India on Wednesday announced the successful completion of precautionary inspections on the locking mechanism of the Fuel Control Switch (FCS) across its fleet of Boeing 787-8 aircraft.
DW
15-07-2025
- General
- DW
Air India crash: Boeing aircraft in the spotlight – DW – 07/15/2025
India and South Korea have ordered comprehensive checks of Boeing aircraft following the Ahmedabad crash which killed 260 people. A preliminary report indicates fuel switches moving to cutoff position just before impact. The US aircraft manufacturer Boeing finds itself in focus of an international controversy once again, with India and South Korea ordering fuel switch inspections for Boeing jets after a 787-8 Dreamliner crashed in Ahmedabad last month. Individual airlines in Japan and Singapore started their own checks as a precaution, according to the Reuters news agency. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The London-bound Boeing jet collided with a structure just minutes after takeoff. The crash killed 19 people on the ground and all but one of the 242 people onboard the aircraft. Indian officials are still trying to determine the cause of the tragedy. However, the nation's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) published a preliminary report this week claiming that the fuel switches for both of the plane's engines moved to the "CUTOFF" position almost immediately after takeoff, starving the engines of fuel. It is not yet known if this was done by one of the pilots or happened due to any mechanical faults. While the 15-page report does not provide a full transcript of the pilots' conversation, the authorities shared a snippet indicating confusion in the cockpit. "In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so," AIIB officials said. The report also notes that fuel switches moved to "RUN" seconds later. One of the engines apparently started cycling toward recovery, while the other continued to struggle. This was not enough to maintain flight and the plane crashed after spending less than a minute in the air. Commenting on the preliminary report, aviation expert Sanjay Lazar who has worked with Air India for 37 years, said that the document "raises more questions" than it provides answers. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video He also said it was "regrettable" that the full transcript from the cockpit has not been shared with the public. The AAIB-provided note on the pilots' conversation indicates that "either none of them cut it off and it got cut off some other way, or you know, there was some element of subterfuge. So it adds a cloud of mystery over that," he told DW. With the focus of the probe moving onto Boeing's fuel intake controls, Lazar pointed to two directives issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) possibly relating to the issue. The first, non-mandatory directive in 2018 had FAA warning that these fuel switches could have a fault and advising supervisory bodies to check them. The second one in 2022, however, was mandatory — and it focused on engine fire control panel and engine fire control switches. According to Lazar, the FAA said checks were necessary due to reports that foreign object debris "may have been introduced during maintenance or rework" of certain units, with one of the risks associated with it being an "uncommanded activation of the engine fuel shutoff." Air India admitted not following up on the first, non-mandatory directive. It was not immediately clear if the airline took action on the 2022 order. Air India also said its maintenance records for the crashed jet showed that the throttle control module, which includes the fuel switches, was replaced in 2023. However, "the reason for the replacement was not linked to the fuel control switch," the AAIB said in their preliminary report. In recent days, news agencies reported that Boeing was assuring airlines its fuel switch locks were safe. According to a media reports, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson issued an internal memo on Monday acknowledging that the preliminary AAIB report "provided both greater clarity and opened additional questions." "I urge everyone to avoid drawing premature conclusions as the investigation is far from over," he said. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Wilson also said all mandatory maintenance and checks were completed on the Boeing aircraft. "There was no issue with the quality of fuel and no abnormality with the take-off roll. The pilots had passed their mandatory pre-flight breathalyser and there were no observations pertaining to their medical status," he said in the note. On Tuesday, Singapore Airlines said it had completed the inspection of its 787 fleet, including planes used by its low-cost subsidiary Scoot, and confirmed all were functioning properly. Germany's Lufthansa group also said it rechecked fuel switches on its own 787s in the wake of the Air India crash, and found no faults. Indian officials are due to submit their findings regarding fuel switches by next Monday. The final report on the crash, however, is likely to take a full year or longer. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Meanwhile, the Airline Pilots' Association of India (ALPA India) requested to be included as observers to provide "the requisite transparency" in the official probe. "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," ALPA India president Sam Thomas said in a statement issued over the weekend. Whatever the outcome of India's and other probes, the latest Boeing crash is likely to further degrade the already shaky reputation of the US airspace giant. Boeing has been struggling to recover from two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, both of them involving 737 Max jets. While multiple factors contributed to both tragedies, both of them were linked to the plane's Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which is designed to automatically push the plane's nose down if it detects a danger of stalling. Between the 2019 crash and the latest incident in India, Boeing aircraft were involved in a series of smaller midair emergencies, such as a door ripping off of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max-9 in January 2024, or a 787 suddenly dropping during flight and leaving some 50 people injured in March 2024. Some two months later, one person died when a Boeing 777 hit turbulence while flying from London to Singapore. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Multiple whilstleblowers have also publicly raised concerns about production issues and alleged safety gaps in Boeing's production process, though achieving clarity on the complaints has proven to be difficult. In March 2024, a Boeing former employee who had recently been giving evidence against the company in a whistleblower suit died of what police later said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Weeks later, another whistleblower passed away after a short illness, after coming down with a fast-spreading infection and developing pneumonia.
DW
15-07-2025
- General
- DW
Air India crash: Boeing fuel in the spotlight – DW – 07/15/2025
India and South Korea have ordered comprehensive checks of Boeing aircraft following the Ahmedabad crash which killed 260 people. A preliminary report indicates fuel switches moving to cutoff position just before impact. The US aircraft manufacturer Boeing finds itself in focus of an international controversy once again, with India and South Korea ordering fuel switch inspections for Boeing jets after a 787-8 Dreamliner crashed in Ahmedabad last month. Individual airlines in Japan and Singapore started their own checks as a precaution, according to the Reuters news agency. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The London-bound Boeing jet collided with a structure just minutes after takeoff. The crash killed 19 people on the ground and all but one of the 242 people onboard the aircraft. Indian officials are still trying to determine the cause of the tragedy. However, the nation's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) published a preliminary report this week claiming that the fuel switches for both of the plane's engines moved to the "CUTOFF" position almost immediately after takeoff, starving the engines of fuel. It is not yet known if this was done by one of the pilots or happened due to any mechanical faults. While the 15-page report does not provide a full transcript of the pilots' conversation, the authorities shared a snippet indicating confusion in the cockpit. "In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so," AIIB officials said. The report also notes that fuel switches moved to "RUN" seconds later. One of the engines apparently started cycling toward recovery, while the other continued to struggle. This was not enough to maintain flight and the plane crashed after spending less than a minute in the air. Commenting on the preliminary report, aviation expert Sanjay Lazar who has worked with Air India for 37 years, said that the document "raises more questions" than it provides answers. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video He also said it was "regrettable" that the full transcript from the cockpit has not been shared with the public. The AAIB-provided note on the pilots' conversation indicates that "either none of them cut it off and it got cut off some other way, or you know, there was some element of subterfuge. So it adds a cloud of mystery over that," he told DW. With the focus of the probe moving onto Boeing's fuel intake controls, Lazar pointed to two directives issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) possibly relating to the issue. The first, non-mandatory directive in 2018 had FAA warning that these fuel switches could have a fault and advising supervisory bodies to check them. The second one in 2022, however, was mandatory — and it focused on engine fire control panel and engine fire control switches. According to Lazar, the FAA said checks were necessary due to reports that foreign object debris "may have been introduced during maintenance or rework" of certain units, with one of the risks associated with it being an "uncommanded activation of the engine fuel shutoff." Air India admitted not following up on the first, non-mandatory directive. It was not immediately clear if the airline took action on the 2022 order. Air India also said its maintenance records for the crashed jet showed that the throttle control module, which includes the fuel switches, was replaced in 2023. However, "the reason for the replacement was not linked to the fuel control switch," the AAIB said in their preliminary report. In recent days, news agencies reported that Boeing was assuring airlines its fuel switch locks were safe. According to a media reports, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson issued an internal memo on Monday acknowledging that the preliminary AAIB report "provided both greater clarity and opened additional questions." "I urge everyone to avoid drawing premature conclusions as the investigation is far from over," he said. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Wilson also said all mandatory maintenance and checks were completed on the Boeing aircraft. "There was no issue with the quality of fuel and no abnormality with the take-off roll. The pilots had passed their mandatory pre-flight breathalyser and there were no observations pertaining to their medical status," he said in the note. On Tuesday, Singapore Airlines said it had completed the inspection of its 787 fleet, including planes used by its low-cost subsidiary Scoot, and confirmed all were functioning properly. Germany's Lufthansa group also said it rechecked fuel switches on its own 787s in the wake of the Air India crash, and found no faults. Indian officials are due to submit their findings regarding fuel switches by next Monday. The final report on the crash, however, is likely to take a full year or longer. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Meanwhile, the Airline Pilots' Association of India (ALPA India) requested to be included as observers to provide "the requisite transparency" in the official probe. "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," ALPA India president Sam Thomas said in a statement issued over the weekend. Whatever the outcome of India's and other probes, the latest Boeing crash is likely to further degrade the already shaky reputation of the US airspace giant. Boeing has been struggling to recover from two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, both of them involving 737 Max jets. While multiple factors contributed to both tragedies, both of them were linked to the plane's Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which is designed to automatically push the plane's nose down if it detects a danger of stalling. Between the 2019 crash and the latest incident in India, Boeing aircraft were involved in a series of smaller midair emergencies, such as a door ripping off of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max-9 in January 2024, or a 787 suddenly dropping during flight and leaving some 50 people injured in March 2024. Some two months later, one person died when a Boeing 777 hit turbulence while flying from London to Singapore. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Multiple whilstleblowers have also publicly raised concerns about production issues and alleged safety gaps in Boeing's production process, though achieving clarity on the complaints has proven to be difficult. In March 2024, a Boeing former employee who had recently been giving evidence against the company in a whistleblower suit died of what police later said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Weeks later, another whistleblower passed away after a short illness, after coming down with a fast-spreading infection and developing pneumonia.
DW
15-07-2025
- General
- DW
Air India crash: Boeing fuel switches in the spotlight – DW – 07/15/2025
India and South Korea have ordered comprehensive checks of Boeing aircraft in the wake of the Ahmedabad crash which killed 260 people. A preliminary report indicates fuel switches moving to CUTOFF position before impact. The US aircraft manufacturer Boeing finds itself in focus of an international controversy once again, with India and South Korea ordering fuel switch inspections for Boeing jets after a 787-8 Dreamliner crashed in Ahmedabad last month. Individual airlines in Japan and Singapore started their own checks as a precaution, according to the Reuters news agency. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video The London-bound Boeing jet collided with a structure just minutes after takeoff. The crash killed 19 people on the ground and all but one of the 242 people onboard the aircraft. Indian officials are still trying to determine the cause of the tragedy. However, the nation's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) published a preliminary report this week claiming that the fuel switches for both of the plane's engines moved to the "CUTOFF" position almost immediately after takeoff, starving the engines of fuel. It is not yet known if this was done by one of the pilots or happened due to any mechanical faults. While the 15-page report does not provide a full transcript of the pilots' conversation, the authorities shared a snippet indicating confusion in the cockpit. "In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so," AIIB officials said. The report also notes that fuel switches moved to "RUN" seconds later. One of the engines apparently started cycling toward recovery, while the other continued to struggle. This was not enough to maintain flight and the plane crashed after spending less than a minute in the air. Commenting on the preliminary report, aviation expert Sanjay Lazar who has worked with Air India for 37 years, said that the document "raises more questions" than it provides answers. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video He also said it was "regrettable" that the full transcript from the cockpit has not been shared with the public. The AAIB-provided note on the pilots' conversation indicates that "either none of them cut it off and it got cut off some other way, or you know, there was some element of subterfuge. So it adds a cloud of mystery over that," he told DW. With the focus of the probe moving onto Boeing's fuel intake controls, Lazar pointed to two directives issued by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) possibly relating to the issue. The first, non-mandatory directive in 2018 had FAA warning that these fuel switches could have a fault and advising supervisory bodies to check them. The second one in 2022, however, was mandatory — and it focused on engine fire control panel and engine fire control switches. According to Lazar, the FAA said checks were necessary due to reports that foreign object debris "may have been introduced during maintenance or rework" of certain units, with one of the risks associated with it being an "uncommanded activation of the engine fuel shutoff." Air India admitted not following up on the first, non-mandatory directive. It was not immediately clear if the airline took action on the 2022 order. Air India also said its maintenance records for the crashed jet showed that the throttle control module, which includes the fuel switches, was replaced in 2023. However, "the reason for the replacement was not linked to the fuel control switch," the AAIB said in their preliminary report. In recent days, news agencies reported that Boeing was assuring airlines its fuel switch locks were safe. According to a media reports, Air India CEO Campbell Wilson issued an internal memo on Monday acknowledging that the preliminary AAIB report "provided both greater clarity and opened additional questions." "I urge everyone to avoid drawing premature conclusions as the investigation is far from over," he said. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Wilson also said all mandatory maintenance and checks were completed on the Boeing aircraft. "There was no issue with the quality of fuel and no abnormality with the take-off roll. The pilots had passed their mandatory pre-flight breathalyser and there were no observations pertaining to their medical status," he said in the note. On Tuesday, Singapore Airlines said it had completed the inspection of its 787 fleet, including planes used by its low-cost subsidiary Scoot, and confirmed all were functioning properly. Germany's Lufthansa group also said it rechecked fuel switches on its own 787s in the wake of the Air India crash, and found no faults. Indian officials are due to submit their findings regarding fuel switches by next Monday. The final report on the crash, however, is likely to take a full year or longer. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Meanwhile, the Airline Pilots' Association of India (ALPA India) requested to be included as observers to provide "the requisite transparency" in the official probe. "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," ALPA India president Sam Thomas said in a statement issued over the weekend. Whatever the outcome of India's and other probes, the latest Boeing crash is likely to further degrade the already shaky reputation of the US airspace giant. Boeing has been struggling to recover from two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019, both of them involving 737 Max jets. While multiple factors contributed to both tragedies, both of them were linked to the plane's Manoeuvring Characteristics Augmentation System (MCAS), which is designed to automatically push the plane's nose down if it detects a danger of stalling. Between the 2019 crash and the latest incident in India, Boeing aircraft were involved in a series of smaller midair emergencies, such as a door ripping off of an Alaska Airlines 737 Max-9 in January 2024, or a 787 suddenly dropping during flight and leaving some 50 people injured in March 2024. Some two months later, one person died when a Boeing 777 hit turbulence while flying from London to Singapore. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video Multiple whilstleblowers have also publicly raised concerns about production issues and alleged safety gaps in Boeing's production process, though achieving clarity on the complaints has proven to be difficult. In March 2024, a Boeing former employee who had recently been giving evidence against the company in a whistleblower suit died of what police later said was a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Weeks later, another whistleblower passed away after a short illness, after coming down with a fast-spreading infection and developing pneumonia.
India Gazette
12-07-2025
- General
- India Gazette
Raises more questions than answers: Aviation expert on Air India crash preliminary report
Pune (Maharashtra) [India], July 12 (ANI): Aviation expert Sanjay Lazar on Sunday said that the preliminary report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on the Air India flight 171 crash raises more questions than answers, and expressed that the investigative authority should have made the transcript of cockpit voice recorder (CVR) public. He said that informing the public about only 'one line' from the cockpit conversations about 'switches' raises more questions. 'The AAIB report raises more questions than it answers. There are a lot of gaps, which might be filled once the investigation goes further. However, I've had a few issues. How was the US media alerted three days ago? Everyone carried it out, and something does seem correct here. The AAIB should have made the entire CVR transcript public. By just informing the public about one line, it leaves a lot of questions hanging, when they talk about the switches,' Lazar told ANI. The expert suggested that it wasn't appropriate for the AAIB to say that there are no safety recommendations for Boeing or General Electric since the investigation has not been completed. 'I do not believe that, when the investigation was not complete, it was the most appropriate thing for the AAIB to have said in the last line of the report, that there are no safety recommendations for Boeing or General Electric. That means that you have washed your hands, or you have decided that there is something else afoot here. In that case, they could have been more transparent,' Lazar asserted. On Friday, India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) released the preliminary report into the tragic crash of Air India flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8 aircraft, which crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on June 12. The AI-171 flight, which was bound for London's Gatwick airport, crashed soon after takeoff from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel airport. 260 people lost their lives in the accident, which included 229 passengers, 12 crew members and 19 people on the ground. The report outlines a harrowing sequence of events that unfolded within 90 seconds of takeoff, as both engines of the aircraft shut down unexpectedly during the initial climb, leading to a catastrophic loss of thrust and rapid descent. Flight data recovered from the aircraft's Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorder (EAFR) revealed that the fuel cutoff switches for both engines were inadvertently moved from RUN to CUTOFF, one after the other within a 1-second interval, at an altitude just moments after liftoff. One pilot was heard asking the other, 'Why did you cut off?' to which the response was, 'I did not.' This uncommanded shutdown triggered the deployment of the Ram Air Turbine (RAT), and the aircraft began losing altitude almost immediately, unable to sustain powered flight. According to the AAIB, the pilots re-engaged the fuel switches in an attempt to relight both engines. Engine 1 showed signs of recovering thrust, but Engine 2 failed to stabilise. The aircraft, which had briefly reached a speed of 180 knots, was already descending and failed to regain altitude. The final distress call -- a 'MAYDAY' -- was transmitted at 08:09 UTC, just seconds before the aircraft crashed into residential buildings outside the airport perimeter. (ANI)
