Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Priyanka Chaturvedi on Monday demanded a probe into the leak of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) preliminary report on the Ahmedabad plane crash to the foreign media before its official release in the country.
Chaturvedi said she could not remain a “mute spectator to what is happening with regards to the narrative around the Air India Boeing 787-8 crash and its interim report” and urged the civil aviation ministry to conduct an inquiry.
Foreign news agencies and media outlets had already published reports on how fuel supply to both engines of the London-bound flight snapped seconds after takeoff, much before the probe details were made public in India on July 12.
Several aviation professionals and pilot organisations have questioned the handling of the probe and its selective leak that have ended up pointing fingers at the pilots for the crash.
The AAIB report gave rise to more questions than it answered, including how the fuel control switch, which was equipped with a lock to prevent accidental operation, was flipped to “cut off” from “run”, leading to the shutdown of the engines.
In the black box audio, one pilot is heard asking his colleague why he cut the fuel off, and the other pilot replies that he has not.
Flagging a “serious lapse in information security”, the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Rajya Sabha member said “such a breach undermines the credibility of our aviation safety institutions”.
Chaturvedi also condemned “nonstop insinuations made against the deceased pilots through implication and selective leaks of the interim report as well as through international media’s narrative”.
She called it a “sinister attempt to malign the pilots” who are not alive to defend themselves.
The Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) said it was “deeply disturbed” by the speculative narratives, particularly the unfounded insinuations about pilot guilt, and urged media outlets and public commentators to exercise restraint and empathy while analysing the probe report.
The Airline Pilots’ Association-India (ALPA-India) iterated its demand to be included in the investigation, claiming that the tone and direction of the probe suggested a bias towards pilot error.
Many professionals have questioned the absence of the signatures of the panel members on the preliminary report.
Demanding transparency, Chaturvedi urged the civil aviation ministry to make public the names of the probe panel members.
Chaturvedi also sought the inclusion of experienced aviators in the probe team and a clear guideline to the media on the issue, considering its potential impact on aviation personnel, airline operations and public perception globally.
Air India CEO
In an internal message to its staff, Air India chief executive officer Campbell Wilson has said that the preliminary probe report “provided both greater clarity and opened additional questions”.
“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 takeoff roll. The pilots had passed their mandatory pre-flight breath analyser and there were no observations pertaining to their medical status,” he said.
Until a final report or cause is tabled, he appealed to the staff to remain focused on tasks, stand by the bereaved and the injured, work together as a team and deliver safe air travel to customers.