India’s Pilots Body Chief Says Will Send Legal Notice to WSJ For Report Allegedly Blaming Pilots for The AI-171 Crash

The Federation of Indian Pilots (FIP) President, CS Randhawa, said the body will serve a legal notice to The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) for putting out a report that alleges the role of the captain in the Air India AI-171 plane crash in Ahmedabad on June 12. In an exclusive interaction with Republic TV, Randhawa dismissed the claims made by the US media outlet, calling the startling report baseless.

“We will be sending a legal notice to the Wall Street Journal that your comments are based [on] and all components will be checked,” Sabharwal told Republic TV in a video interaction. “What is the evidence? They have no evidence. They are basing their presumptions, and they should not be, and this is being constantly done by the western media until and unless there is a detailed inquiry, investigation, which will take place. Now, the detailed investigation will take place, and all components will be checked.”

What Does the WSJ Report Say?

In a bombastic report released on Wednesday, WSJ has emphasised the role of the captain in the tragic crash of the London-bound Air India flight, engulfing the lives of 241 of 242 passengers aboard after it took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. Citing sources familiar with the ongoing investigation and cockpit recordings, the report has alleged Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who had a total flying experience of 15,638 hours, cut off the flow of fuel to both engines of the Boeing Dreamliner-787 aircraft seconds after takeoff.

While the prime focus remains on the fuel selector switches, which the preliminary report by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) claimed were found in the “cut-off” position, WSJ’s narrative is a deliberate attempt to blame the captain without substantiation. The report relies on the official investigation to rule out mechanical failure or maintenance issues, but goes ahead to scrutinise human actions in the cockpit against AAIB’s probe findings.

What Does AAIB’s Preliminary Report Say?

In its preliminary report, AAIB said the fuel selector switch was turned off, immediately starving both engines of fuel and causing the plane to plummet before it crashed, taking hundreds of lives. However, it does not mention what caused the switch to steer into that position, leaving questions about human intervention and the valve’s malfunction unanswered. Experts believe the switch cannot be accidentally turned off, but the possibility of mechanical failure can be explored.

A 2018 advisory by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) said that if the locking mechanism of the fuel switches becomes disengaged, it eliminates the need to lift the switches before they can be thrown to necessitate a cut-off.

Read more: Western Media Blames Pilot, But AAIB Says 'No Conclusions Yet'— Why The Rush To Judge?