Air India 171 crew acted in line with responsibility under challenging conditions: AI Pilots' grouping ICPA

Mumbai: As the preliminary report of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) seems to hang in between a possible technical error involving fuel control switches and suspected confusion among pilots, the Indian Commercial Pilots' Association (ICPA) said that the pilots acted their training and responsibilities under challenging conditions and they aviators should not be vilified.

The ICPA statement comes hours after the Airline Pilots Association of India (ALPA-I) alleged that the tone and direction of the investigation suggest a bias toward pilot error.

ICPA represents the narrow-body pilots of Air India.

“The crew has acted in line with their training and responsibilities under challenging conditions, and the pilots should not be vilified based on conjecture. Until the official investigation is concluded and the final report is published, any speculation is unacceptable and must be condemned,” it said.

The report into the 12 June crash of the Dreamliner of Air India took 260 lives, including 241 of the 242 people onboard shortly after it took off from Ahmedabad for London Gatwick.

The 15-page preliminary findings of the AAIB said: “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…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.”