AI-171 crash report: FIP slams report alleging pilot cut fuel before crash

The President of the Federation of Indian Pilots FIP CS Randhawa on Thursday condemned a media report alleging that the captain of the Air India flight which crashed in Ahmedabad last month deliberately cut off fuel to the engines Captain Randhawa dismissed these claims as unfounded and pledged to take appropriate action against the publicationCaptain CS Randhawa emphasised that the preliminary report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau AAIB does not indicate any mention of the pilots turning off the switches that control the fuel flow to the enginesNowhere in the report has it been mentioned that the fuel control switch was turned off due to the pilots mistake I condemn the article They said it was the pilots mistake They have not read the report properly and we will take action against them through FIP Captain CS Randhawa stated reported news agency ANICaptain CS Randhawa further urged people not to comment on the AAIBs preliminary report as this may create fear among commuters about air travelWe had issued a press statement yesterday that no channel commentator or president of any agency should give such an opinion that has no basis The detailed report will take time till then people are giving their own opinions without any basis which is not right Captain Randhawa added reported ANINeither the report nor the Civil Aviation Minister has said that it was pilot errorYou 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 Boeing has not taken any action yet and has not even tried to issue a directive that all these aircraft should be checked for TCMA functions Secondly there is not a single pilot in the investigation committee he saidCaptain Randhawa said that his federation is requesting the Civil Aviation Minister to reconstitute the board and include typerated experts in this investigation board who are pilots engineers and air safety expertsThe FIP President said that Indian Pilots are among the best in the world Indian pilots are among the best in the world I did not give my opinion to the Wall Street Journal which had approached me as well because I am against this American media They are deliberately giving their own opinion their own views from this report while there is nothing like this in the report So I very strongly condemn this report of the Wall Street Journal and we will take action on it he added reported ANIEarlier on Wednesday the Federation of Indian Pilots FIP expressed serious concern regarding the preliminary findings and public discourse surrounding the crash of Air India flight AI171 in AhmedabadFIP in an official statement expressed their dissatisfaction with the exclusion of pilot representatives from the investigation process objecting to the way in which the preliminary report has been interpreted and presented publiclyAt the outset we would like to register our dissatisfaction with the exclusion of pilot representatives from the investigation process We also firmly object to the way in which the preliminary report has been interpreted and presented publicly FIP said in an official statementThis statement followed a Reuters report which cited the Wall Street Journal claiming that a cockpit recording of dialogue between the two pilots of the Air India flight that crashed last month indicated that the captain turned off the switches that controlled fuel flowing to the planes enginesAs per Reuters The Wall Street Journal report cited people familiar with US officials early assessment of evidence uncovered in the investigation into the crash which killed 260 peopleThe recording suggested that the first officer who was flying the Boeing aircraft opened the new tab 787 Dreamliner and asked the other captain who was more experienced why he moved the switches to the cutoff position after it climbed off the runway the report said according to ANIThe first officer expressed surprise and then panicked while the captain seemed to remain calm Reuters reported citing WSJ Indias Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA Boeing and Air India have not yet responded to the reportThe two pilots involved were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder who had a total flying experience of 15638 hours and 3403 hours respectivelyA preliminary report released last week by Indias Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau depicted confusion in the cockpit shortly before the June 12 crash and raised fresh questions over the position of the critical engine fuel cutoff switches the report saidThe AI 171 crash of the Boeing Dreamliner 7878 aircraft in Ahmedabad Gujarat killed 260 people including 229 passengers 12 crew members and 19 people on the groundWith ANI inputs