Aviation safety experts have urged restraint in assigning blame following the release of the preliminary investigation report into the tragic Air India Flight 171 crash, which claimed 260 lives. Former chief of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), Aurobindo Handa, on Sunday called for patience and a transparent approach as the full investigation unfolds.
“It will be too premature to draw conclusions on the role of pilots from the preliminary investigation report into the fatal crash of Air India plane last month and the final report will mention about the most probable cause for the accident,” Handa said.
The preliminary report, released Saturday, revealed that the fuel switches of the ill-fated Boeing 787-8 aircraft were turned off within a second of each other and then switched back on. Cockpit voice recordings captured one pilot asking the other why the switch was cut off, to which the other replied that he had not done so. The report did not clarify which pilot made the remarks.
“We should allow AAIB to complete the investigation in a fair, unbiased and transparent manner,” Handa stated. With over 100 aircraft investigations to his name, including the 2020 Air India Express crash in Kozhikode, Handa emphasized the need to focus on technical findings rather than conjecture.
“AAIB has done a good job. Going forward, they will now focus to find out as to why and how these fuel switches moved and whether there could have been any mechanical and/or electrical failures/malfunction,” he told PTI.
Flight AI 171, operating from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, crashed into a building shortly after takeoff. Of the 242 people onboard, only one survived. The aircraft was a 12-year-old Boeing 787-8.
The co-pilot, First Officer Clive Kundar, 32, was Pilot Flying (PF), while the 56-year-old Pilot In Command, Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, served as Pilot Monitoring (PM). Kundar had 1,128 hours of experience on the 787, while Sabharwal had over 8,596 hours, including 8,260 as PIC. Both pilots had taken the required rest prior to the flight, as per the report.
Handa cautioned against speculative blame, especially by international media: “In some quarters, especially in foreign media, there are endeavours to indicate that one of the pilots could have been at fault. Yet again, I would like to request our veteran aviators to refrain from any sort of speculation.”
Echoing Handa’s sentiments, Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu urged the public and media not to draw premature conclusions. “There are multiple things that need to be looked into before preparing the final investigation report,” he said.