00:00Authorities in India have ordered airlines to examine fuel switches on several Boeing aircraft.
00:06This, of course, comes in the wake of the Air India crash when all but one of the over 240 people on board the aircraft were killed shortly after takeoff when a jet plunged into a built-up area.
00:19The revelations of the black box flight recorders, scrutiny of fuel switch locks at the centre of the Air India crash, intensifies as a result of what was revealed on the black box recorders.
00:29This image is, of course, the chilling reminder of how this all unfolded.
00:36In a move to prevent further plane crashes after the deadly Air India Flight 171 disaster, India's aviation regulator has ordered the inspection of fuel cut-off switches on several Boeing models.
00:50The mechanisms have become a source of much debate since a preliminary crash report was released last week.
00:56It found fuel to the aircraft was momentarily cut off seconds after takeoff, starving both engines of power.
01:05In the cockpit voice recording, one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cut off.
01:10The other pilot responded that he did not do so.
01:13The report also noted a 2018 advisory from the United States Federal Aviation Administration that urged operators of certain Boeing models to inspect the fuel switches to ensure they could not be moved accidentally.
01:29But on Friday, the aviation regulator immediately pushed back and said they believed locks on Boeing aircrafts were safe.
01:37Experts in the field also called the findings bizarre.
01:40You have to actually pull the toggle switch up with a couple of fingers against the spring and move it out of the detent and then move it into the new position.
01:49So it's not going to happen by accident.
01:51So you'd have to make it move by hand.
01:54On the other hand, the Indian Commercial Pilots Association was outraged by both the lack of transparency in the report and the subsequent speculation.
02:03They felt people were jumping to conclusions and that the pilots were being blamed.
02:08To casually suggest pilot suicide without verified evidence is a gross violation of ethical reporting and a disservice to the dignity of the profession.
02:19According to Air India's CEO, all mandatory maintenance tasks were completed prior to the crash and they found no issue with the quality of fuel and no abnormality with the takeoff roll.
02:31So, let's get the analysis.
02:34I'm bringing in Anita Menderati, an aviation and tourism advisor based in Los Angeles.
02:38Anita, thanks for being with us here in France 24.
02:40I'd be interested to find out what you think about what we've been saying here about the Air India situation, these fuel switches.
02:47Obvious advice, but of course, it can't bring back those that lost their lives, can it?
02:52This is the great tragedy here.
02:54No matter what we do, we can't turn back time.
02:56Indeed, we can't turn back time and that's why when we look forward, we need to make sure that the final investigation that still is yet to take place goes into understanding exactly what happened and how do we make sure this doesn't happen in the future.
03:09Because as what's very clear is that this preliminary report that came out on Saturday, which was required within 30 days of the incident itself on June the 12th, needed to be a top-line understanding of what are the indicators of what went wrong and how do we divide that elimination process ultimately, which says, was it about the environment?
03:30No.
03:31Was it issues with air traffic control?
03:33No.
03:33Was it airport operations?
03:35No.
03:36We bring it back down to the aircraft.
03:37Was it pilot error?
03:39The report is coming back and saying no.
03:41We need to look at both the aircraft from the point of view of the switches, which we know were in question, and also the engines.
03:48So we really need to narrow this down, stay focused, but not lose focus, as you say, on the lives that were lost and those that are still needing to heal.
03:57There was, again, within Air India, the staff, the leadership, the membership itself of the Air India community, the Tata organization, and India as a whole.
04:08Air India is a very proud national carrier of the flag.
04:11Words well said, Anita, and beautifully summed up.
04:16I'm wondering from the perspective of Boeing, given Boeing has had a number of issues, and you and I have spoken about them before, how important is it for Boeing to fully cooperate openly, transparently with any inquiry that goes forward?
04:32You make such an important point, and indeed, we've had many conversations over the past year about Boeing from different perspectives.
04:40It is incredibly sad that this is a Boeing aircraft.
04:43It's sad that it's any aircraft manufacturer in any airline.
04:46But importantly, Boeing has been consistent in that the leadership, Kelly Ortberg, has been very forthcoming and say they will absolutely support the other leaders behind this investigation, especially Campbell Wilson, the CEO of Air India.
05:01So Boeing is absolutely up front.
05:03They have been supporting this investigation from the very beginning when the accident first took place.
05:08No one is pulling back on this, whether it's GE, Boeing, or Air India itself, because ultimately we need to establish what exactly happened, and that means not putting any premature blame in any direction at all.
05:22And that's the important thing, because the problem is, and in a sense, what I'm doing at the same time is asking these kind of questions to you, which are almost speculative, and speculation is probably not where we should be going.
05:34However, there have been reports talking about some kind of deliberate act by the pilots.
05:41That doesn't help anybody, I don't think.
05:43But what is your reaction to that?
05:45My reaction is to echo exactly what you just said.
05:49Yes, there are questions about the pilots, and was it actually pilot manipulation of the aircraft?
05:55What we know is that the protocols were all in place in terms of pre-aircraft departure, and it seems to be in terms of emergency response.
06:03To start to speculate with any conspiracy theories is very dangerous, because it distracts from the facts.
06:11It puts focus in terms of areas that are quite honestly unethical at this point in time.
06:15The full investigation that will be required for within one year of the event itself will go into not only the aircraft health, but also the health of the pilots that were involved.
06:26So we need to allow, ultimately, the investigation to continue in its full form.
06:32What's also very important to remember, Mark, about this is that we're talking about India.
06:36It's the third largest domestic aviation market in the world, after the U.S. and Canada.
06:42I beg your pardon, the U.S. and China.
06:44And very importantly, Prime Minister Modi himself has said that aviation is a critical part and a catalyst of shaping the new India.
06:52So this is about being able to continue to keep the Indian skies open, confident and safe for both travel and trade, which is fundamental to the future of the subcontinent of India.
07:04Again, a very proud nation carrying the flag through an organisation like Tata and Air India that are symbols of pride and possibility in the future of India.
07:14My journalism professor, many, many years ago, once said to me, never be afraid to ask a silly question.
07:21So I'm going to ask you this one.
07:23The location of the switches within the cockpit.
07:26Is there something about that that could have contributed towards what happened?
07:30And should perhaps those kind of things be put in a different, safer location?
07:35It's an important point that you ask, and it's not a silly question at all.
07:38It's a question that many are asking, that how could it be as simple as a fuel switch being turned off that actually caused such a catastrophic incident that took so many lives?
07:49The position of the fuel switches are there for easy access reasons.
07:53They're there for absolutely right purposes.
07:55However, we need to also look at the safety mechanisms built within those fuel switches.
08:01It's not a simple flip the switch as if we're turning off the power in a room.
08:05There are safety mechanisms in place.
08:08And as the beginning of your report made it very clear, there's a functionality catch that allows the switches to be activated, but only with significant conscious moves.
08:19It's not something that could be done either by accident in terms of a simple flip.
08:24And equally, it's not something that could be done outside of the peripheral vision of the pilot or the co-pilot.
08:30So for someone to go through the act of flipping those switches to cut off the fuel, it'd be very difficult to go through that physical maneuver without the person sitting literally right beside you seeing that act taking place.
08:43And that's why the conversation of the pilot and the co-pilot is important.
08:47The alarm that was in their voice turning on the auto response to be able to kickstart again the engines and reactivate the thrust and then calling in the mayday says that something else was happening there.
08:59And again, we need to give oxygen to the entire examination and the investigation, which will bring us results by middle of June next year.
09:08Anita, as always, thank you for joining us.
09:10It's a pleasure to speak to you and we do appreciate the light that you shine on what is a very difficult story.
09:16Anita Menderata, the Aviation Tourism Advisor based in Los Angeles.
