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MUMBAI: The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has demanded that the authorities instantly represent a judicial probe and clasp a Court of Inquiry that is_into the clang of Air India Flight AI 171.
In a missive to the ministry, FIP alleged that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s (AAIB) enquiry has been “irrevocably compromised” by bias, unlawful leaks, and attempts to prematurely pin the blasted connected the pilots.In a powerfully worded missive dated September 22 to the Minister of Civil Aviation, the FIP said the AAIB’s behaviour has “shattered the assurance of bereaved families and the aviation fraternity” successful the ongoing probe into the June 12 disaster.
The accident, involving a Boeing 787-8 operating from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, claimed the lives of some pilots, 10 compartment unit members, 229 passengers, and 19 radical connected the ground.
Who Cut the Fuel? Inside the Mystery of the Air India 171 Cockpit Audio
Accusations Against AAIB
The pilots’ assemblage cited “egregious procedural and ethical breaches” by investigators, including a sojourn by AAIB officials to the residence of Capt. Sumeet Sabharwal’s 91-year-old father, Pushkar Raj Sabharwal, nether the pretext of offering condolences.
During that visit, the officials allegedly insinuated—based connected selective cockpit dependable recorder (CVR) readings and a “layered dependable analysis”—that Capt.
Sabharwal had deliberately chopped disconnected substance proviso aft take-off.Calling this “professionally indefensible,” the FIP accused the AAIB of trying to found a “pilot mistake narrative” earlier completing a broad analysis. “This enactment of poisoning the good serves to framework the unfortunate arsenic the perpetrator from the outset, conveniently deflecting scrutiny from systemic failures successful manufacturing, maintenance, oregon oversight,” the missive said.The FIP besides charged that the AAIB unlawfully leaked protected CVR accusation to the media, fuelling speculative reports astir Capt. Sabharwal’s intelligence health. Media stories linked the mishap to his divorcement 15 years earlier and his mother’s decease 3 years ago, contempt his unblemished 30-year flying grounds and 15,638 hours of harmless operations.
Legal and International Concerns
The pilots’ relation stressed that these actions interruption Rule 17(5) of the Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2017, which prohibits disclosure of CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder) content.
They besides contravene the cardinal rule of mishap investigation—that its sole intent is mishap prevention, not assigning blame.The missive warned that India risks planetary censure for failing to adhere to International Civil Aviation Organisation- ICAO’s Annex 13, which pertains to mishap investigations. It calls for autarkic and impartial investigations. Sabharwal has already placed the Ministry connected announcement of imaginable ineligible action, further heightening the stakes.
Demand for a Judicial Inquiry
Under Rule 12 of the 2017 Rules, the authorities has the authorization to bid a ceremonial Court of Inquiry erstwhile an probe is inadequate. The FIP said this was not conscionable “expedient but an urgent necessity,” fixed the standard of the tragedy, the nonaccomplishment of nationalist trust, and the “manifest bias” shown by the AAIB.The federation projected that the Court beryllium led by a retired Supreme Court justice and assisted by a sheet of autarkic experts successful operations, craft maintenance, avionics, formation power systems, and quality factors.
“Unlike the AAIB’s administrative process, a Court of Inquiry has each the powers of a civilian court, including summoning documents from manufacturers similar Boeing and General Electric,” the missive noted.The FIP pointed to the precedent of the 2010 Mangalore crash, erstwhile the authorities constituted a Court of Inquiry led by a retired Air Marshal with a multidisciplinary panel. While that enquiry yet cited aviator error, it was accepted arsenic credible and transparent.
The AI171 case, the federation argued, demands an adjacent higher modular of independency owed to allegations of cover-up.
Global Cautionary Tale
The pilots’ assemblage besides drew parallels with the Boeing 737 MAX tragedies, wherever aboriginal efforts to blasted pilots delayed the find of systemic plan flaws. “India cannot spend to repetition this mistake,” the missive warned. It argued that the AI171 crash, which occurred wrong a infinitesimal of take-off, bore the hallmarks of a catastrophic strategy nonaccomplishment and indispensable beryllium investigated with that anticipation successful mind.
Three Key Demands
The FIP urged the Ministry to:
- Constitute a Court of Inquiry nether Rule 12, formally halting the AAIB probe.
- Ensure judicial and adept leadership of the inquiry, headed by a retired Supreme Court judge.
- Issue nationalist clarification that the nonsubjective of mishap investigations is safety, not blame, and nonstop the AAIB to cease extra-judicial commentary oregon media leaks.
“This request is not made lightly,” the federation concluded. “A compromised, biased probe that defaults to a simplistic and convenient ‘pilot error’ communicative is the azygous top threat. It ensures that underlying dangers stay hidden, lone to re-emerge successful a aboriginal catstrophe.
