Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 17: The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Thursday criticised foreign media outlets for “irresponsible” reporting on the London-bound Air India flight crash immediately after take-off from Ahmedabad airport on June 12 on the basis of the initial report released recently and appealed to them to wait until the investigation was completed.
In a statement, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), a wing of the Civil Aviation Ministry, said some international media outlets were accused of drawing premature conclusions through selective and unverified reporting. “Such actions are deemed irresponsible while the investigation is still ongoing,” it said.
The AAIB said it was essential to respect the sensitivity of the loss faced by families of victims. Amid speculations in various quarters about the reasons for the fatal crash, the AAIB said it was too early to reach to any definitive conclusions. The crash on June 12 was the first fatal disaster involving a Boeing 787, killing a total of 274 including all but 242 on board, including 12 crew members, and 33 on the ground, when the plane ploughed into a medical college hostel in the Ahmedabad civil hospital complex adjacent to the airport.
After the initial report of the AAIB, which in nutshell said fuel switches to both the engines were found in “cutoff” position leading to twin engine failure, went public, several foreign media outlets are blaming the Air India pilots for the crash.
Wall Street Journal (WSJ) report claimed that a senior pilot may have accidentally cut off fuel supply to both engines, leading to the crash. Another report by the WSJ now puts the blame on the senior pilot. It says the cockpit recording between the two pilots indicates that the flow of fuel to the plane’s engines was cut by the captain of the flight.
The cockpit recording of the last conversation between the two pilots of the Air India flight, the WSJ said the first officer flying the Boeing 787 Dreamliner asked the more-experienced Captain why he moved the switches to the “cutoff” position, shortly after the flight took off from the runway. The first officer then expressed panic, while the Captain remained calm, the report says.
The two pilots involved were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder, who had a total flying experience of 15,638 hours and 3,403 hours. The Wall Street Journal cites a preliminary report by the AAIB which also suggests that the fuel cutoff switches for both engines were moved to the cutoff position, one after another, within a 1-second interval, at an altitude just moments after lift-off. The time between take off and crash was just 32 seconds, it said.
The details in the preliminary report suggest it was the captain who turned off the switches, the Wall Street Journal says, citing people familiar with the matter, US pilots and safety experts tracking the probe. “The report didn’t say whether turning off the switches might have been accidental or deliberate,” says the US publication.
“The aircraft achieved the maximum recorded airspeed of 180 Knots IAS at about 08:08:42 UTC and immediately thereafter, the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 01 sec,” the report said.
The preliminary report released by the AAIF on Saturday recommended no action for now for the operators of Boeing 787-8 planes. At the time the aircraft took off, the co-pilot was flying the plane, while the captain was monitoring. As per the report, the engines N1 and N2 began to decrease from their take-off values as the fuel supply to the engines was cut off. “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,” it said.
The Air India CEO and MD Campbell Wilson has said AAIB’s preliminary report on the Ahmedabad plane crash last month found no mechanical or maintenance issues with the aircraft or engines, and that all mandatory maintenance tasks had been completed. The Air India chief said the preliminary report identified no cause nor made any recommendations and urged everyone to avoid drawing premature conclusions as the investigation is far from over.
In a message to Air India staff last week, Wilson said the preliminary report found no mechanical or maintenance issues with the aircraft or engines, and that all mandatory maintenance tasks had been completed. “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.
Civil Aviation Minister Kinjarapu Ram Mohan Naidu said last week that the report was only based on preliminary findings and “one should not jump to conclusions” till the final report is released. “I don’t think we should jump to any conclusions over this. I believe we have the most wonderful workforce of pilots and crew in the whole world. I have to appreciate all the efforts the pilots and crew of the country are putting, they are the backbone of civil aviation. They are the primary resource of civil aviation. We care for the welfare and well-being of the pilots, too. So let us not jump into any conclusions at this stage and wait for the final report,” he said.
Mr Naidu added, “There are technicalities involved. It will be very premature to comment on the report. The preliminary has come in, but we have to wait for something concrete to come in.”
The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) President, CS Randhawa, on Thursday slammed the Wall Street Journal’s “baseless” report and vowed to take action against the publication. Emphasising that the AIIB’s preliminary report makes no mention of the pilots turning off the switches controlling fuel flow to the engines, Mr Randhawa said people should not draw their conclusions before the final report was out.
“Nowhere in the report has it been mentioned that the fuel control switch was turned off due to the pilot’s mistake. I condemn the article. They said it was the pilot’s mistake. They have not read the report properly, and we will take action against them through FIP. We had issued a press statement yesterday that no channel, commentator or president of any agency should give such an opinion that has no basis. The detailed report will take time; till then, people are giving their own opinions without any basis, which is not right,” he said.
