Veteran pilot and decorated Wing Commander Sharath Panicker has strongly ruled out pilot error in the recent Air India crash near Ahmedabad. Reacting to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau’s preliminary findings, Panicker said, 'Pilot failure is extremely unlikely.' The AIBB report hints at technical faults and weather instability, shifting the spotlight away from crew negligence. As the probe deepens, questions mount on aircraft systems and maintenance lapses.
00:00So my question or what lends itself to ambiguity is, it is extremely unlikely that any of the pilots would have done this. Extremely unlikely.
00:11Theoretically, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau should be having access to that and they should have been able to tell us very clearly as to what was the actual position of the switches in the cockpit at the time at which this transition has taken place.
00:28So I was sitting in Vienna when this particular accident had happened. My first thought was disbelief. What could have happened immediately after takeoff which has resulted in a complete loss of thrust.
00:42The preliminary report has already come out yesterday from the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau and it's a 15-page report. It's fairly elaborate but it is still a preliminary report.
00:57What in my mind, the few points that I have is that one, it is a bit ambiguous. The language which is used seems to be a little ambiguous as to what actually happened during the final stages of the aircraft after it got airborne till the time that it impacted upon the ground.
01:21The language which is lending itself to ambiguity is a statement made about the fuel control switches.
01:28Now, I am a Dreamliner pilot. I have flown the Dreamliner for 10 years. I have more than 4,700 odd hours in command on the Dreamliner. So I am familiar with the machine. I am familiar with the environment.
01:43The fuel control switch is the area of concern at this point in time as per the report. What the report says is that the fuel control switches have transitioned from run to cutoff.
02:02Now, whether this means that the physical movement of these fuel control switches has taken place or not is not clear at all.
02:15The enhanced and advanced flight data recorder would tell the position of all the switches in the cockpit.
02:22So, theoretically, the aircraft accident investigation bureau should be having access to that and they should have been able to tell us very clearly as to what was the actual position of the switches in the cockpit at the time at which this transition has taken place.
02:39As far as I am concerned, the pilots would have nothing to do with the fuel control switches during the takeoff.
02:49The only time at which the fuel control switches come into play is if, for example, there is an engine failure at or after V1 or at any stage immediately after takeoff,
03:04which results or an engine fire of a single engine which results in the actions that would be involving the fuel control switch.
03:17These actions would only take place at a safe height of at least 400 feet once the aircraft is stabilized and the autopilot is on.
03:29So, these memory items would involve in what we call securing the engine, which in this case, let's take the case of engine failure, would involve putting the auto throttle arm switch off,
03:44identifying the correct thrust lever, confirming it from the other pilot, then bringing the thrust lever from its takeoff position to idle position,
03:55and then subsequently putting your hand on the fuel control switch, identifying it, confirming it with the other pilot before putting it from run to cutoff.
04:07It is a very deliberate action. It is a very slow action.
04:10And the final action would be to pull the fire switch.
04:14So, all these actions would take place only at or after a minimum safe altitude of 400 feet, certainly not immediately after takeoff.
04:24So, my question or what lends itself to ambiguity is, it is extremely unlikely that any of the pilots would have done this, extremely unlikely.
04:36And that too, you are not talking about one switch, you are talking about both switches.
04:40And as per the report, both these switches have transitioned from run to cutoff within a period of one second.
04:48Now, even if you look at it from a pilot's perspective, if I have to put off a fuel control switch, I am just saying normally,
04:58even if I do it at maximum speed, from a takeoff position, I will have to first look down, find out where that switch is, put my hand on that switch, lift it up,
05:10because it is a spring-loaded switch, pick it up, move it to cutoff and there afterwards release it.
05:17There afterwards, I will have to follow the same procedure on the other fuel control switch, in which I have to identify it, pick it up, release the spring-loaded catch,
05:30move it to the cutoff position and then release it again.
05:33This entire process certainly cannot be done within a second.
05:36So, my thinking is, perhaps you have to look at other aspects as to why these fuel control switches have transitioned into a cutoff position.
05:48Now, whenever the fuel control switch is put to run, which it is done when we first start the engine on the pushback,
05:56this fuel control switch is not touched at all till you switch off at the end of the flight.
06:01Right? But whenever it is put from idle to run, or sorry, from cutoff to run, there are certain micro switches within the whole system itself,
06:14which makes contacts, which control different things.
06:16Different signals are sent to the software, to the FADEC, to the systems which open up the fuel control valves of the engine,
06:27of this power fuel control valve, that means the valve which controls the fuel from your fuel tank to that particular engine.
06:34There are all different micro switches that are there, which make contact when you move the fuel control switch from cutoff to on.
06:41Maybe these would have to be investigated in greater detail.
06:44I am sure that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has all the necessary expertise.
06:49They have access to all the experts, the domain experts, the original equipment manufacturers.
06:55I am sure they will be able to find out exactly what went wrong.
06:58As far as I am concerned, I think it is extremely, extremely remote that anyone during a process of takeoff,
07:05takes his attention off the takeoff, looks down, finds the switch, puts it off, and then finds the other switch,
07:13again puts it off, and all within a period of one second.
07:16In my opinion, extremely unlikely.
07:18Also, the Pilot Association is raising the question on the same.
07:25They are also saying that it is also being said that the report has been leaked without authorization.
07:32What would you like to say on that report?
07:35I have no comment on that because I am not aware of what is the procedure by which these reports are leaked,
07:41whether it is deliberate, whether it is not deliberate.
07:43As I understand, this report has been put up by the AIIB within the stipulated period of time of 30 days,
07:49and I think they have done that.
07:51Whether a preliminary report, somebody else had access, I would not be able to comment on that.
07:56And on Boeing, what is your reaction on the overall situation? What happened?
08:05My initial thinking is that since like, for example, when this particular accident happened,
08:11I was sitting in Vienna. I had just taken off from Delhi to Vienna the previous day,
08:17and I was waiting in Vienna for the Dream Runner flight from Delhi to Vienna to come,
08:21and then we would have taken that flight from Vienna to Washington.
08:24So I was sitting in Vienna when this particular accident had happened.
08:28My first thought was disbelief. What could have happened immediately after takeoff,
08:34which has resulted in a complete loss of thrust?
08:38Please do remember that time, nobody knew what had happened.
08:41So there were different speculations going on, there were different theories going on.
08:45Somebody talked about flaps, somebody talked about this, somebody talked about that.
08:48Somebody said instead of retracting the gear, he erased the flaps.
08:51And all sorts of wild speculations were going on.
08:56My thinking is that if the preliminary report had shown something alarming or something dangerous,
09:05both the Accident Investigation Board, Bureau of India, the DGCA, again in consultation with Boeing,
09:12and with the FAA of the US would have stopped all Dreamliner flights,
09:18or stopped the combination of Dreamliner flights with this particular brand of engine, which is the GE engine.
09:24As you are aware, there are different engine manufacturers, GE, Trent, Rolls-Royce, etc.
09:29The fact that they didn't, to us, at that point in time, one month before, that is when the accident happened,
09:36indicated that maybe it's nothing to do with, it's nothing that is alarming,
09:41or nothing that is dangerous enough for the regulatory authority to step in,
09:47and say that it is dangerous to fly, stop flying.
09:50So, coming back to your question about what has possibly happened.
09:56Now, Boeing is the original equipment manufacturer of the Boeing 787.
10:02This aircraft is widely in service all across the world with many airlines.
10:07I have flown this aircraft for 10 years, I have found no problem with it.
10:11This aircraft has logged more than, I would say, about 4 million flying hours across the world
10:18in its 13, 14 odd years of, since the time it's been introduced.
10:23It's a very advanced aircraft, it's the most advanced aircraft that Boeing has in its fleet.
10:27And I am sure that they have the expertise, and they have the knowledge,
10:32they have the capability of knowing what is wrong with their equipment,
10:36or what are the glitches in the equipment.
10:38If you put your mind back onto early days, there were certain teething problems
10:43that the Dreamliner had, primarily to deal with its lithium-ion batteries about overheating.
10:48But that was the initial glitches, it got sorted out,
10:51and it's been running without any problems for a fairly long period of time.
10:55So, I do not think that there is anything dramatic which would have caused
11:01either the regulator here in India, or the regulator in the US, or Boeing,
11:06or the engine manufacturer to be alarmed and stop flying.
11:13So, it's up to the authorities to investigate what are the reasons why it's happened.
11:19My input to this would be that the flight data recorder has the position of all the switches in the cockpit.
11:28What is the position? Is it in run? Is it in cut-off?
11:32All this data is available from the DFDR, Enhanced Airborne Flight Data Recorder.
11:39If you are doing this, let's look ahead and see how long it's happened.
11:42Right?
11:43If you are doing it, you're doing the navigation.
11:44The activity is very quick.
11:48The light and the lights are not really quick, you're doing it.
11:51The battery is now 100% off to the frequency here.
11:54In this case, it will be the weather.
11:55If you are looking at all the wheels and you are looking at the power of the control,
11:57It's important for all these instruments that you are doing.
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