The Federation of Indian Pilots Peeved Over Blame On Basis Of Prelimeinary Investigation Into Air India 171 Crash

The Federation of Indian Pilots, a professional pilots’ body, has expressed concerns over the preliminary investigation report on the Air India Boeing 787 plane crash, saying that assigning blame before a thorough, transparent, and data-driven investigation is both “premature and irresponsible.”

The FIP, in a statement as reported by PTI , also urged all stakeholders, including the media, commentators, and authorities, to “refrain from disseminating partial narratives or making unfounded assumptions”.

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau in its preliminary probe report on the crash that killed 260 people on June 12 said the fuel switches to the engines were cut off within a gap of 1 second immediately after takeoff and caused confusion in the cockpit of the Tata Group-run Air India flight AI 171.

Citing cockpit voice recording, the 15-page preliminary report, released on Saturday, said one pilot asked why the switch was cut off and the other pilot responded that he did not do so.

“At the outset, we would like to register our dissatisfaction with the exclusion of pilot representatives from the investigation process. We also firmly object to the way in which the preliminary report has been interpreted and presented publicly,” FIP president CS Randhawa said in the statement.