Air India plane crash: Aviation minister slams ‘vested interests’ of Western media: ‘No point in jumping to conclusions’

Calling the Ahmedabad Air India plane crash reports published by the western media as their ‘vested interests’, the Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu on Sunday said that there was no point jumping to conclusions before the AAIB report comes out.

“AAIB has made an appeal to all, especially Western media houses, which may have a vested interest in the kind of articles they are trying to publish,” Naidu said.

“I believe in AAIB. They have done a wonderful job in decoding the black box in India itself. Making any comments until the final report comes out is not a good exercise. There is no point in jumping to conclusions at this point,” he added.

The civil aviation minister was referring to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) preliminary report, released on July 12, on the crash of Air India’s Boeing 787-8 plane that killed 260 people, including 241 people onboard. The aircraft, which was operating the flight AI171 from Ahmedabad to London Gatwick, crashed into a building soon after takeoff.

What the AIIB report revealed

Seconds before Air India flight 171 crashed while ascending from Ahmedabad, the fuel control switches of both its engines were cut off, according to the preliminary investigation report, suggesting a catastrophic pilot error in the cockpit of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

A 15-page preliminary investigation report into the disaster revealed that fuel-control switches of the two engines moved from the “run” to the “cutoff” position, within the space of one second, leading to immediate loss of altitude.

In the cockpit voice recording, one pilot is heard asking the other why he cut off the fuel. The other denied having done so.

The report by the AIIB neither concluded any reason for the switches moving nor apportioned explicit blame for the crash. It also did not identify the pilots in the voice recording. But it also said no fault was found in the aircraft.

‘Reports not based on factual content’

The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) President Captain CS Randhawa on Saturday called out The Wall Street Journal and Reuters, accusing them of not basing their reports on factual content while highlights the AIIB’s preliminary report on the AI-171 plane crash.

Captain CS Randhawa’s strong remark followed the FIP’s initiation of legal action through a formal notice to The Wall Street Journal and Reuters. They have also sought an official apology.

Strongly criticising the WSJ and Reuters, Randhawa blamed them for “misleading” the public, alleging that their reports are “not based on factual content.”

“I would totally blame the Wall Street Journal for misleading the public, they come out with their own conclusions. Are they the investigative body? They’re talking all this crap around the world. They are not the investigative body, and the reports are not based on any factual content, which is mentioned in the preliminary report. So, how can they jump to conclusions and give press statements around the world?” he told ANI.

Captain Randhawa said that FIP has issued a legal notice asking them to issue a statement in the press, giving an explanation of their reportage of the AAIB preliminary reports.

“We strongly condemn it, and we’ve also issued legal notices to the Wall Street Journal and Reuters. We have clearly said that how can you jump to these conclusions which are not part of the preliminary report of the AAIB? How can you blame the pilots? So we have asked for an explanation and have asked that you give a statement to the press.” he said.

“And if they don’t do it, then we’ll see further action,” he added.