The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) on Wednesday raised serious concerns over the preliminary findings and public commentary surrounding the crash of Air India Flight AI171, that crashed near Ahmedabad minutes after taking off for London.
In a statement, the FIP (Federation of Indian Pilots), the union which represents Vistara’s pilots, said, “It is with deep concern that we note that the pilot representatives were not included in the investigative process. Moreover, we also strongly object to the manner in which the preliminary report was presented and communicated to the public.”
The FIP criticized the report for not having complete data and relying heavily upon “selectively paraphrased cockpit voice recordings” which could suggest mistakes by the pilots and challenge the competency in the pilots.
“This type of speculation maligns the integrity of our skilled crew members and causes undue distress to their families and colleagues,” the statement said.
The 15-page preliminary report published a month after the crash laid out the initial causes of the disaster that killed 240 of the 241 people on the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that was flying to London. Minutes after takeoff, the plane crashed into a medical college.
The incident, as per the reports was caused by mid-air engine shut downs along with cockpit confusion and unsuccessful attempts to recover just a few moments into the flight.
However officials from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) stated that crucial aspects of the investigation, including post-mortem analysis, wreckage analysis reports, and inspections of the components are currently in progress.
At the moment it is unclear if at this point, AAIB has not yet issued any safety guidelines for Boeing 7787-8 aircrafts or its engines, GE GEnx-1B.
Boeing stated that in line with the ICAO’s Annex 13 requirements, it will not be responsible for updating the AAIB.