 "UK aviation authorities review Air India plane crash report as families seek answers")
The United Kingdom’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch on Saturday announced that it is in the process of reviewing the preliminary report released by its Indian counterpart on the London-bound Air India plane crash. The report released by the Indian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on Saturday is based on the initial findings of their probe into the crash that took place in Ahmedabad, killing all but one of the 242 passengers and crew.
It is pertinent to note that the British AAIB is part of the investigatory process since it involves the death of 52 British nationals on board. “The UK AAIB welcomes the publication of this preliminary report, which is a summary of factual information uncovered so far by the AAIB India investigation,” UK AAIB said in a statement.
“The UK AAIB are in the process of reviewing this preliminary report in detail and remains in communication with AAIB India. The UK AAIB has ‘expert’ status in the Indian safety investigation. By international protocols, release of information on the investigation rests solely with the Indian authorities,” it furthered.
The UK watches the investigation closely
The 15-page preliminary investigation report into the devastating crash revealed that the fuel-control switches of the two engines moved from the "run" to the "cutoff" position within the space of one second. This led to the immediate loss of altitude, eventually leading to the crash.
In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots was heard asking the other why he had cut off the fuel. The other said that he didn’t. Meanwhile, the UK-based families who have lost their loved ones in the June 12 crash have called for a mechanism of expert representation in the investigatory process.
Keystone Law, which is currently advising over 20 of these families in the case welcomed the report stating that it defined the “area of investigation,” around the fuel control switches. “The families now understand there is a more defined area of investigation, but one of their bigger concerns is that they are excluded from this safety investigation,” said James Healy-Pratt, Aviation Partner at Keystone.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts“Ideally, there should be some mechanism for which there can be expert representation for those families that can feed into the combined safety work that’s going on. And don’t forget, it’s an international product. It’s not only the Indian AAIB, the British AAIB has been helping, as have the Americans. So ideally, the families should have some form of input into that,” he said.
It is pertinent to note that the Indian AAIB report is a preliminary one and it would take months for the final report to come out. The investigation in the case is still ongoing.
With inputs from the PTI.
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