Mumbai: Pilots’ grouping ALPA-India on Sunday said it is mulling legal recourse to have its members as part of the investigation into the Air India’s Boeing 787-8 plane crash, a day after alleging that AAIB’s preliminary report suggests a bias towards pilot error.
The Airline Pilots’ Association of India (ALPA-India) represents over 800 pilots of airlines and helicopter companies in the country. It is a member of the International Federation of Airline Pilots’ Association (IFALPA), which claims to have 1 lakh pilots from across 100 countries as its members.
Against the backdrop of the AAIB’s preliminary report, representatives of ALPA-India will meet officials of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Monday to discuss various issues.
“The preliminary report by the AAIB has been put up on the website. It does not have anyone’s signature on it. We want transparency. We had asked for our representation in the investigation panel,” ALPA-India president Sam Thomas told PTI.
Thomas stressed that its members have domain expertise and can contribute meaningfully in the investigation of the Air India plane crash.
The association is mulling legal recourse to ensure that its members are made part of the investigation team.
His comments come at a time when people from certain quarters are opining that fuel switches could have been cut off by a pilot, a proposition that has been strongly rejected by pilots’ groupings.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) in its preliminary report on the crash that killed 260 people on June 12 said the fuel switches to the engines were cut off within a gap of 1 second immediately after takeoff and caused confusion in the cockpit of Air India flight AI 171.
India’s second largest airline by domestic market share, Air India is owned by the Tata Group.
The Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) on Sunday said the crew of the AI 171 flight acted in line with their training and responsibilities under challenging conditions, and the pilots should not be vilified based on conjecture.
Strongly rejecting insinuations in some quarters about pilot suicide, the association representing narrow-body pilots of Air India stressed that until the official investigation is concluded and the final report is published, any speculation is unacceptable and must be condemned.
ICPA said it is deeply disturbed by speculative narratives emerging in sections of the media and public discourse-particularly the reckless and unfounded insinuation of pilot suicide.
“There is absolutely no basis for such a claim at this stage, and invoking such a serious allegation based on incomplete or preliminary information is not only irresponsible – it is deeply insensitive to the individuals and families involved,” it said in a statement.
The association emphasised that pilots undergo extensive psychological and professional screening, recurrent training, and operate under the highest standards of safety, responsibility, and mental fitness.
Noting that ICPA trusts and respects the rigorous investigative protocols established by competent authorities, it said these inquiries are designed to uncover facts methodically and without bias.
