Is 'Pilot Error' the Easy Way Out?
The speculation and insinuation about the causes that led to the tragic crash of the Air India flight 171 in Ahmedabad on June 12, has been nothing short of being specious and evasive of crucial issues.
The preliminary investigation report conducted by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), was unclear and indeterminate, and did not give any specific reasons for the cause of the crash. But it clearly ruled out mechanical failure and design flaws, and focused primarily on the fact that the fuel switches of the plane’s engines had been “cut off” mid air, stopping fuel to engines, which led to the crash.
It appears now that this cutting off of fuel switches which went from "run" to "off" is the main focus of the investigation.
Not surprisingly, all hell broke loose with the insinuation that one of the pilots had switched it off by mistake or deliberately – as international aviation experts and former pilots, from the US to Australia offered analysis on why it was not possible for fuel switches to go off automatically. While the AAIB report's mention of the cockpit recording did not give transcripts nor mention which pilot asked the other whether he had switched off the fuel switches, the media went on an overdrive discussing the mental health of the senior pilot – from whether there was an underlying depression disorder, to the times he had taken sick leave. The Wall Street Journal cited US officials who appeared to suggest that it was the Captain who turned off the fuel switches.
The Federation of Indian Pilots and the Airline Pilots’ Association of India condemned such irresponsible and unverified speculation by the global media and have rejected it outright as the AAIB report did not explicitly point to pilot error. The associations were particularly incensed by the reckless and unfounded insinuation of pilot suicide.
Also, preliminary reports are not to be taken as final, as many experts have told the media – they are only a factual summary of the information obtained in the early stages of a lengthy investigation.
Mark D. Martin, CEO and founder of Martin Consulting, an aviation safety, air crash investigator and consulting firm, said "The AAIB report is convoluted and cryptic and not based on facts. Why is there no transcript published? Instead we only have the AAIB team's version of the so-called conversation in the cockpit. The two-crew pilots don't indulge in this kind of banter – the protocol is aviate, communicate, navigate. You try to regain control and get the thrust back. You don't talk, you call checklist out."
Also read: A Preliminary Report of an Air Crash Probe Is Not an Altar Where Truth Has to be Sacrificed
Martin added the AAIB neither has members on the investigation team who are pilots who have flown wide bodied jets, nor any engineers who have tech know-how of the advanced systems and digital controls of a 787 aircraft. "Why didn't the government not use the first class crash investigation labs of the DRDO, HAL ASTE, or Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment located in Pune and Nashik? The attempt clearly seems to put the blame on pilot error, and the investigation team seems to be playing the Boeing playbook," he said.
While the AAIB has been leading the investigation, Boeing and GE Aerospace, the maker of the aircraft and the engine manufacturer respectively, are also part of the investigation and report. "Shockingly, the AAIB report actually says in its last page that Boeing & GE need not be part of the investigation now. The report has completely exonerated the two companies, and now seems to focus on pilot error or suicide," said Martin. Boeing has said it will continue to support the probe and all those affected by the tragedy.
Boeing has said it will continue to support the probe and all those affected by the tragedy.But even as the wild speculations fly around daily, the Tata Boeing Aerospace Limited (TBAL) a joint venture between Tata Advanced Systems (the Tata group now owns of Air India) and Boeing, set up in 2016, has been going swimmingly well. The TBAL’s facility set up in Hyderabad has already co-produced 300 Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter fuselages, as the company proudly announced earlier this year; and the Apache attack helicopters are also used by the Indian and US Army apart from other countries.
In addition to being the sole source supply for Apache fuselages, as the joint venture has announced, TBAL will also produce aero-structures for Boeing 737 and 777 models, and the Dreamliner. Salil Gupte, president of Boeing India, had said, Boeing has made significant investments in India’s aerospace and defence industry, and in the company’s endeavour “to help build a robust Aatmanirbhar Bharat” in support of Prime Minister Modi’s 'Make in India' scheme, "Our investments span the entire spectrum of local manufacturing, engineering and R&D; and training and skilling personnel.”
TBAL employs over 900 engineers and technicians. Though Gupte had been banking on “the selection of the F/A-18 Super Hornet aircraft as it will help boost investments in India’s defence industry” the Modi government ignored the inducement and instead bought the Rafale aircrafts from France.
It is clear to see that the Tata-Boeing joint venture is taking strides in defence and aerospace. It has begun producing the vertical fin structures for the 737 aircrafts. A Tata company, TASL, which has its aerospace manufacturing facility in Nagpur, produces advanced composite floor beams for Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner, and since 2011, its variants 787-8, 787-9, and 787-10. It also supplies to Airbus. More than 90% of the parts used in the Apache aero-structure is now manufactured by TBAL.
As for Boeing in India, its more than $1 billion dollar enterprise is a stamp of Modi’s 'atmanirbhar' or self-reliance policy. The company's site says that Boeing has a robust supply chain with over 300 Indian companies, big and small, apart from Tata, from Mahindra Aerostructures to the government-owned HAL. It also provides components and services to MSMEs which are also part of the supply chain. It has contracts to supply over 200 aircrafts to various airline carriers; supplies and supports various defence platforms from surveillance aircraft to attack helicopters. Boeing will now partner with Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited to propel sustainable aviation fuel and support the government’s environmental goals.
Also read: Air India Crash Latest Blot in Boeing’s History, Whistleblowers Had Raised Concerns on Dreamliner
In fact, last year, Modi dedicated the Boeing Sukanya Programme that aims to support the entry of girls into the aviation sector. Under this, over 160 labs will be set up to ignite an interest in science and technology. Former Union women and child development minister Smriti Irani had also inaugurated 30 libraries under Boeing’s Room to Read literacy programme and three Boeing Innovation studios in Amethi.
There is thus a lot of weight riding on Boeing in India. "Air India is treading on thin ice with its joint venture with Boeing, and it's a no brainer that Air India will be slanted towards the Boeing narrative," Martin said.
But aviation experts agree that pilots the world over are not going to accept a whitewashed report that questions them when they are already pressurising their aviation organisations and governments to investigate the Dreamliner aircraft.
"It will be a pity if our investigation is discredited globally," said Martin.
The investigation into the crash is not over as yet, as it is mandated by law to go into the next stage which will conclude in 12 months.
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