The June 12 Ahmedabad aircraft crash continues to evoke concern and astonishment (EDITORIAL)
The preliminary report from the national Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, released on Saturday, said both of the Air India Flight AI 171 aircraft’s fuel switches moved to the cut-off position immediately after takeoff, stopping supply to the engines. We will know more about what went wrong only when the full and final report is out, which could take a long time.
Yet, has raised serious questions. All flyers would be left wanting to know more about the reason for this tragic disaster. The number of Indians flying has grown vastly in recent times. In such a situation, it is essential for our systems to work both efficiently and transparently.
Reports have quoted Air India crash victims’ families as saying they were not satisfied with the “vague” initial report. The AI pilots’ body, the Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association, said the crew had acted “in line with their training and responsibilities under challenging conditions, and the pilots should not be vilified based on conjecture.”
Some experts have said that a pilot or an expert familiar with the 787 system should have been on the investigation team. Some have alleged a lack of transparency. A section of the media, however, pointed to theories of pilot suicide, and this raises a new round of fears. Is the media being sensationalist here, or pre-judging the issue? Some have also interpreted this as an unfair trend in attempting to blame the pilots.
We are left with many questions. Both fuel control switches were inexplicably shifted from ‘run’ to ‘cutoff’ within one second of each other, right after liftoff. One of the pilots questions the other as to why he did it, and the latter denies doing so. If this was done deliberately, this could have been the worst time to choose.
There are other technical questions too, about what emerged in the report — over gaps in the emergency system’s behaviour, or possible discrepancies in the timeline and data. The chances of pre-existing technical issues, and concerns over whether the investigation was conducted systematically have been raised. The slender 15-page report has been termed far less comprehensive than other major crash reports, and some portrayed it as lacking in detailed analysis, data extracts, timeline diagrams, or pilot procedure details. The AAIB interim report did not offer any immediate technical recommendations or actionable guidance.
Criticism is cheap, and finally, it is the experts on whom we depend. The stakes in such an issue are phenomenally high, as the probe going in one or the other direction could affect so many. The crash investigation is unfolding into a potentially global-impact case. The direction it takes could affect multiple stakeholders in very significant ways — right from Boeing and others in the industry (in case the probe points to design flaws, ignored warnings, or inadequate safety updates across its 787 fleet), to families of the victims, and the country’s global image, among others. Such a case could also have implications for the international airline industry. All the agencies involved in the airline industry need to take utmost steps to ensure passenger safety.
Earlier India-based crashes like Mangalore (2010) and Kozhikode (2020) are now mostly forgotten — or at least have receded to the back of our memories. But in the interest of the large flying public, it is only fair that no efforts be spared to arrive at the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
