Pune (Maharashtra) [India], July 17 : Following the Wall Street Journal report on the Air India AI171 crash, aviation expert Sanjay Lazar on Thursday expressed concern over the leak of investigation details in the United States. He pointed out that while the American report claims the flight commander may have switched off the fuel controls, India's official preliminary report only contains a short pilot denial and lacks the full cockpit voice recorder transcript.
Lazar questioned why the full cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcript was not shared in the preliminary report by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and said it is worrying that a foreign media outlet appears to have more information than Indian authorities or the public.
Speaking to ANI, Sanjay Lazar said, "The Wall Street Journal this morning has released a report, which suggested that the commander of the flight AI171 had undone the fuel switches. The preliminary report of the AAIB of India has only released a single statement, a very bold statement, which says, "Why did you cut it off? And the pilot replied, No, I did not." Given this single statement, I do not believe that there is ample scope for us to make a determination. The preliminary report failed to provide the entire transcript of the CVR. What is strange is that the AAIB preliminary report is being disclosed and leaked in the United States. And that brings a greater worry for all of us in India because this is an independent organisation controlled by the government of India. Yet the Wall Street Journal seems to know more about it than any of us in India, our parliament, or the Civil Aviation Ministry."
Lazar said there should be a judicial probe into the Air India AI171 crash to ensure full transparency and accountability. He said an appeal should be made to the Prime Minister to order an inquiry led by a sitting High Court judge.
"The Federation of Indian Pilots has expressed its dissatisfaction with the report and the role of the AAIB. I concur fully with this. We should make an appeal to the Prime Minister of India, seeking complete transparency and a judicial probe into this matter by a sitting High Court judge to ensure accountability and transparency throughout this process," Lazar said.
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 plane's engines, Reuters reported, citing the Wall Street Journal report on Wednesday.
As 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 people.
The recording suggested that the first officer, who was flying the Boeing aircraft, opened the new tab 787 Dreamliner, 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.
The first officer expressed surprise and then panicked, while the captain seemed to remain calm, Reuters reported, citing WSJ.
India's Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), Boeing and Air India have not yet responded to the report.
The two pilots involved were Captain Sumeet Sabharwal and First Officer Clive Kunder, who had total flying experience of 15,638 hours and 3,403 hours, respectively.
A preliminary report released last week by India's 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.
Meanwhile, Air India on Wednesday announced the successful completion of precautionary inspections on the locking mechanism of the Fuel Control Switch (FCS) across its fleet of Boeing 787-8 aircraft.