‘Tiruchi plane crash probe a cover-up’

Report drafted to exonerate pilots of criminality, says aviation safety expert

The report of the investigation into the 2018 Air India Express plane crash in Tiruchi is a cover-up to exonerate the pilots, says aviation safety expert Captain Mohan Ranganathan. Not only did pilot error result in insufficient thrust, but the cockpit crew also endangered the passengers’ lives by continuing to fly for close to four hours despite a damaged aircraft in order to ensure that crucial data recording was deleted, he alleges. On October 11, 2018, the flight from Tiruchi to Dubai with 130 passengers hit the airport boundary wall and the antennas of a ground-based navigation aid during take-off, resulting in a gaping wound in the aircraft belly. Despite the ATC informing the pilots of the damage, the crew continued to fly till Muscat airspace, where they were ordered to make a landing in Mumbai. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau in its report made public recently has blamed a snag in the pilot-in-command (PIC)’s reclining seat for the incident.