New Delhi (TIP)- Cockpit recordings of Air India flight 171’s final moments indicate the captain switched off fuel to the plane’s engines, a media report said on Thursday, July 17, citing anonymous sources, but the claim was rejected as irresponsible reporting by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.
The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed American officials aware of the probe’s details, first reported that black box recordings indicated captain Sumeet Sabharwal turned off the fuel control switches, prompting first officer Clive Kunder to ask why he had moved them to the “cutoff” position. Bloomberg independently reported it was Kunder who asked the question.
The captain appeared to deny responsibility while remaining calm as the first officer expressed surprise and panic, the WSJ report stated, citing people familiar with US officials’ early assessment.
AAIB’s preliminary report released last week summarised the cockpit exchange but did not identify which pilot made which statements: it merely stated that one pilot asked the other why he had moved the switches while the colleague denied doing so.
AAIB, without naming the publications, on Thursday criticised what it said were repeated attempts to “draw conclusions through selective and unverified reporting.” It is “essential to respect the sensitivity of the loss faced by family members of deceased passengers, crew of the aircraft and others on the ground,” it said. The agency clarified that the purpose of the preliminary report is to provide information about ‘what’ happened, not to reach conclusions about why it occurred. “At this stage, it is too early to reach to any definite conclusions,” the statement said, adding that the root cause analysis will be part of the full report. No timelines have been shared for the latter’s release.
On being asked why a transcript of the cockpit conversation was not released, AAIB director general GVG Yugandhar told HT: “Transcript is not released by any nation as per ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) protocols. Only relevant lines will come in final report.”
An ICAO official, who asked not to be named, cited rule 5.12 of annex 13, that lays down guidelines on member states to protect accident investigation records. This portion stated that “investigation agencies shall not make available” records such as cockpit voice recordings for any purpose other than the probe itself, although countries retain the discretion to do so if in the larger interest of public or aviation safety.
Aviation experts stressed that reports such as those by Bloomberg and WSJ have created a situation where more information must be released to restore confidence in the investigation process.
“The unedited cockpit tapes need to be made public. It is vital that crucial evidence currently in the hands of the investigators must be made public in order to arrest for good these malicious and unwarranted insinuations,” said Mark Martin, CEO of aviation consultancy firm Martin?Consulting.
CS Randhawa, president of Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) said: “Such speculation could have been avoided if the AAIB, in its preliminary report, stated some crucial part of the CVR transcript” before adding that the AAIB’ s appeal on?Thursday for people to avoid conjecture on the pilots’ roles “was much needed”.
Neither report stated if there was evidence that Sabharwal did indeed move the switches, beyond the verbal exchange cited. It was not clear if the publications had heard the recordings or viewed transcripts.
However, Bloomberg quoted an expert saying the cockpit recording could be more revelatory than known at present. “There are multiple microphones around the cockpit including their headsets,” said Michael Daniel, a retired Federal Aviation Administration inspector and accident investigator.
Source: HT