00:00Now, Bloomberg's been told that Indian investigators will miss Friday's one-year deadline to explain why an Air India jet
00:06line crashed right after takeoff.
00:09We're told that's because an examination of Boeing's planes, engines in the U.S. still needs to be completed.
00:15Let's get more from New Delhi with Bloomberg aviation reporter Meher Mishra.
00:18Meher, talk to us about this delay.
00:23Hi, good morning, Hasslinder.
00:24And so the inquiry is, so the investigation into the crash is mostly done.
00:32But the issue with investigators are that, you know, the principle how these investigations work is they look at the
00:39most possible cause for the crash.
00:41And they look at all the other aspects that could have caused the crash.
00:44Now, while there is a consensus on a particular, on the pilot action as being one of the reasons, as
00:53being the most likely reasons for the crash.
00:56But the investigators want to be doubly sure, and which is why they have sent these GE engines to the
01:02U.S.
01:03These engines, while the engine data has already been analyzed, these engines will be unscrewed.
01:08And, you know, the analysis will be done by the engineers at GE.
01:12Just to be sure that, you know, anything inside the engine may not have caused the crash.
01:17Now, it can be debated that this could have been done earlier and not, you know, wait till the last
01:24moment so that the final report is delayed.
01:27While that debate always is valid.
01:29But the fact is that this is the first Boeing 787 crash.
01:34And the investigators in India are also, you know, want to be, want to come out with a detailed report
01:41to prove the theory that they have in terms of the reason for the crash.
01:46And that is the reason for the delay.
01:50Meher, how soon should we then expect this report?
01:53And what should we expect from the report?
01:58So, what we are told is that it should take another, say, three more months for the final report to
02:04come.
02:05These three months will be essentially required for the engine research to come from GE.
02:13And then that will be incorporated in the final report.
02:15And so around August or September, we expect the final report to come.
02:20The final report essentially will be a very detailed one, which will, which is likely to, and the likely reason
02:29for the crash could be, according to our sources, a pilot action which led to the crash.
02:36But the report will detail every aspect of the aircraft and the 32 seconds that led to, I mean, after
02:47which the plane crashed on that, on a year ago.
02:52Bloomberg's India aviation and infrastructure reporter, Meher Mishra, thank you.
02:56Our next guest is a veteran on India's aviation sector.
03:00Let's now bring in Vandana Singh, chairman of Aviation Cargo and a chair at the Federation of Aviation Industry of
03:06India.
03:07Vandana, good to have you with us.
03:08I mean, it's not just this Air India report that's been delayed.
03:12India has repeatedly delayed such reports.
03:15What do you make of what is happening in India?
03:21Firstly, a very good morning to you from India.
03:24And let's not forget that this is the worst 787 crash of the world.
03:29Let's not just forget that there were Indian nationals on it.
03:33There were also 53 British nationals on it.
03:36And the fact that it's rather that it's delayed and decoded properly rather than we look at the deadlines.
03:45In this case, the investigation is a bit complex.
03:49And it is not necessary that, you know, you have to come out with a finding within 12 months.
03:55Of course, the Annex 3 of the ICAO says that within 12 months, within a year, you have to have
04:01a report.
04:02But then we know that complex investigations can take anything from, you know, 12 to 22 months or 24 months,
04:11even two years plus.
04:12We do expect a status update.
04:14But a lot of facets, as we just mentioned, are involved.
04:19What about the FedEx data?
04:22What about the GEE analysis that we are talking about?
04:26What about the switches as such?
04:28The TCMA, a lot of factors are still being looked into.
04:32In my perspective, what I saw and what I have seen is a lot of speculations, everything going in the
04:40direction of the human error, meaning not even giving the 50 percent of doubt principle and looking at the systems.
04:47The stakeholders over here, all the stakeholders, including Air India, including Boeing, including Honeywell, including GE, all of it has
04:57to be looked into.
04:58So, yes, there is a delay, but I'd rather that the truth come out and it be decoded rather than
05:05just come up and jump to conclusions and speculations.
05:08Over to you, ma'am.
05:09Vandana, we appreciate it is complicated.
05:12It is a huge case.
05:14I'm just wondering if you see gaps in India's ability to do investigations such as these.
05:22Is it a matter of, you know, capacity enforcement?
05:25Are there gaps?
05:30To be very honest, all the technical experts are here.
05:34We have the best of engineering.
05:36We have the best of expertise in the AIB.
05:40But I see that perhaps, you know, conclusions have not been disagreed to their disagreements.
05:51Let's understand this is not an investigation trial.
05:55This is pure engineering.
05:57And here the experts will come up with their views.
06:01So, yes, we have the knowledge, we have the talent, we have the experts.
06:06But I fail to understand why the black boxes were sent twice to the U.S.
06:11There was no requirement for that.
06:13I feel that the analysis should have been happening here because we have the provisions here in India.
06:19And as we speak, we have another 787 flying, we have 12,000 787s that are flying around.
06:29We don't want another crash to happen.
06:32So, in my view, safety excellence must remain non-negotiable.
06:38And if that be the case, I think India, with its stronger systems, needs to ensure the report is proper
06:46so that we have safer skies for the future with a better oversight.
06:50Over to you, ma'am.
06:51Vantana, some people have suggested perhaps that AIB should be more autonomous like the NTSB.
06:59What are your thoughts on that?
07:04I think the same, too.
07:06I think the same, too, that that should be the case.
07:10I feel also we should learn from the best.
07:13I just said that we have the most capable talent in our country.
07:18We have the best investigating staff in our country for such accidents.
07:24However, yes, you're right.
07:27We should also look at an autonomous structure.
07:31And we should try to make, you know, it better and upgrade ourselves.
07:38Of course, I do think so as an aviation expert.
07:42And, Vantana, of course, you are the chairman of the Aviation Cargo.
07:46So I'm wondering what are some of the key takeaways and what are some of the measures that can be
07:51implemented to ensure that such incidents don't happen again?
07:57Lots of steps have been taken here in our country.
08:03As we know, we are the fastest.
08:04India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world, the third largest domestic aviation market in the world.
08:11We want safer skies for the world.
08:14We have upcoming about 300 more airports that are opening in India.
08:19So, obviously, the call of the day is to really upgrade ourselves.
08:27Lots of things right now are being looked into as far as this investigation is concerned.
08:33But moving on and learning from this, I think we should ensure that probably infrastructure around the airports, such as
08:44the Ahmedabad airport, all of that infrastructure which is outside within a certain periphery should be dismantled.
08:51The rescue operations or the rescue response should be really good and quick and fast.
08:58And all of those facilities need to be upgraded, especially in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities in our country.
09:06Over to you, ma'am.
09:06Vantana, I'm just wondering, all the measures that you have mentioned, are they enough to rebuild confidence among the people?
09:17Yes, why not?
09:18I'd like to be optimistic about it.
09:21And let's not forget that to date, the safest mode of transportation from point A to point B is flying,
09:30is getting onto an aircraft.
09:32And as we increase the number of aircrafts we have in our country, as we increase the capacities, we increase
09:39the airports, the infrastructure and all of it that is happening, the confidence definitely comes back.
09:46People bounce back.
09:47But yes, this needs a closure.
09:50This disaster of 787 needs a closure.
09:54Over to you, ma'am.
09:55Over to you, ma'am.
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