Federation of Indian Pilot (FIP) president CS Randhawa condemned a media report on Thursday claiming that the Air India flight captain in Ahmedabad had deliberately cut fuel by the captain of the Air India flight in Ahmedabad. Captain Randhawa dismissed the claims as baseless and vowed to take action against the publication.
Captain CS Randhawa emphasized that there is no mention of pilots in the Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation (AAIB) preliminary report, which are closing the switch controlling fuel flows in engines.
“… The report has not mentioned anywhere that the fuel control switch was discontinued due to the pilot’s mistake. I condemn the article. He said it was the pilot’s fault. He has not read the report properly, and we will take action against him through FIP,” Captain CS Randhawa told ANI.
He further urged people not to comment on AAIB’s initial report, as it could cause fear among passengers about air travel.
“We released a press statement yesterday that no channel, commentator or president of any agency should not give an opinion that has no basis. The detailed report will take time; till then, people are giving their opinion without any basis, which is not correct,” Captain Randhwa said.
“Neither the report nor the Civil Aviation Minister has said that this was a pilot error … You should belong to the incident of Ana NH 985, which took place on January 17, 2019. When the pilot completely shut down the thrust rivers, both the engines closed with fuel.
Secondly, there is not a single pilot in the inquiry committee, ”he said.
Captain Randhawa said that his federation is requesting the Civil Aviation Minister to reorganize the board and include type-rated experts in this inquiry board, who are pilots, engineers and air security experts.
The FIP president said that the Indian pilots are the best in the world. “Indian pilots are the best in the world. I did not give my opinion to the Wall Street Journal, who also contacted me, because I am against this American media. They are deliberately giving their opinion, this report from this report, while there is nothing in the report. So I will condemn this report of Wall Street Journal and we will act on this.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Federation of Indian Pilot (FIP) expressed “serious” concerns about initial conclusions and public discourse around the Air India flight AI-171 accident in Ahmedabad.
In an official statement, the FIP expressed its dissatisfaction with the boycott of the pilot representatives from the investigation process, the way the initial report has been interpreted and presented in public.
The FIP said in an official statement, “Initially, we want to record our dissatisfaction with the boycott of the pilot representatives from the investigation process. We also strongly object to the method in which the initial report has been explained and presented publicly.”
The statement followed a Reuters report, cited the Wall Street Journal, claiming that a cockpiting recording of the dialogue between two pilots of the Air India flight to be crashed last month indicated that the Captain had closed the switch that controls the fuel flowing in the aircraft’s engines.
According to Reuters, the Wall Street Journal report cited an initial evaluation of evidence exposed to the investigation into the accident to US authorities, killing 260 people.
The recording suggested that the first officer, who was flying the Boeing aircraft, opened the new tab 787 Dreamliner, and asked the other captain, who was more experienced, after climbing from the runway, why the switch was transferred to a “cutoff” position after climbing from the runway, the report said in the report.
The first officer surprised and then panicked, while the captain seemed to be calm, the Reuters described the WSJ. The Directorate General of Civil Aviation of India (DGCA), Boeing and Air India have not yet responded to the report.
It had two pilots Captain Sumit Sabarwal and the first officer Clive Kundar, who had a total flight of 15,638 hours and 3,403 hours respectively.
A preliminary report released by the Bureau of Aircraft Accident Investigation of India last week showed confusion in the cockpit on June 12 and raised new questions on the status of the important engine fuel cutoff switch, the report states.
The AI 171 accident of Boeing Dreamliner 787-8 aircraft in Ahmedabad, Gujarat killed 260 people, including 229 passengers, 12 crew members and 19 people on the ground. (AI)