Ahmedabad Air India crash: Pilot's body denies WSJ report, recalls Japanese airline mishap involving Boeing 787

The pilots' body Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) has denied the Wall Street Journal report blaming Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, the commanding pilot of AI171, of causing the Ahmedabad Air India crash. The American publication alleged Captain Sabharwal turned on the fuel cutoff switches to both engines of the Boeing 787-8 aircraft.

 

The pilots' body demanded a thorough probe of the crash and demanded that pilots should be made a part of the investigation team. Dismissing the Wall Street Journal report, Captain C.S. Randhawa, President of FIP, told ANI the preliminary report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau doesn't mention anything about AI171's pilots activating the fuel cutoff switches to both engines. 

 

"They are deliberately giving their own opinion, their own views from this AAIB report, while there is nothing like this in the report. So I very strongly condemn this report," Sabharwal said.

 

"Neither the report nor the civil aviation minister has said that it was pilot error...You must relate this to the incident of ANA NH985, which occurred on January 17, 2019. At the time of landing, when the pilot selected thrust reversers, both engines shut down without the pilot moving the fuel control switch. I am quite clear that this is a repetition of the TCMA (Throttle Control Malfunction Accommodation) malfunction, and this needs a thorough investigation of the TCMA," he told the publication.

 

Saying Boeing has not issued any directive yet to check for TCMA (Throttle Control Malfunction Accommodation) malfunctions, FIP urged the civil aviation minister to reconstitute the probe body with pilots, engineers and air safety experts.

 

What was ANA flight NH985 incident? 

All Nippon Airways (ANA) is a Japanese airline. On January 17, 2019, ANA NH985 flight from Tokyo Haneda to Osaka Itami Airport suffered dual engine failure on touchdown at Osaka. Both engines of the Boeing 787 aircraft shut down when pilots deployed thrust reversers. The aircraft had to be towed away after landing.

India