New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday described as “unfortunate” and “irresponsible” the media reports suggesting that pilots deliberately cut off the fuel supply in the Air India plane crash that occurred on June 12 this year. The court made the remarks while hearing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking an independent probe into the tragedy.
The apex court issued notices to the Centre, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), seeking their responses on the matter. The PIL was filed by the NGO Safety Matters Foundation, an aviation safety organization led by Captain Amit Singh.
The AAIB, in its preliminary report published in July, revealed technical details surrounding the crash of Air India flight 171. According to the report, “The aircraft achieved the maximum recorded airspeed of 180 knots IAS at about 08:08:42 UTC, and immediately thereafter, the Engine 1 and Engine 2 fuel cutoff switches transitioned from RUN to CUTOFF position one after another with a time gap of 1 second.”
The report further stated that both engines began to lose power as their fuel supply was cut off. The cockpit voice recorder reportedly captured one pilot asking the other why the cutoff occurred, to which the other responded that he had not initiated it.
