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New Delhi, July 13, 2025 (ANI): On AAIB's preliminary report, former fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force, Captain Sharath Panicker said, "It is the duty and responsibility of the AAIB to come out with the preliminary report, which they have within the 30-day stipulated period. The report is factual mostly, but in my opinion, there are certain areas that lend to a degree of ambiguity. Specifically, I would have liked to have seen something that would have explained the time frame as to what happened exactly at what stage, including the failure of both engines, when this apparent conversation occurred between the pilots, and when the mayday call happened. That would have made the report a little bit more factual. It would have made it a little bit clearer, and it would have lent itself less to this degree of ambiguity which we are seeing at this point in time..."

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00:00The report is factual mostly, but in my opinion, there are certain areas which lends itself to a degree of ambiguity.
00:10Something that would have been explaining with the time frame as to what happened exactly at what stage,
00:18including the failure of both the engines.
00:21Neither of the two pilots would have had their hands on the fuel control switch.
00:27Both their hands would have been elsewhere.
00:31I am also a pilot. I also firmly believe that it would take a very deliberate act in the process of take-off,
00:39while you are involved in something else, to even think of putting any control switches off,
00:44which I don't think has happened in this case.
00:46I want to know your initial understanding of the report.
00:50You have been a pilot and have also worked in DGCA as a flight operating inspector.
00:59So, what is the initial understanding of the report?
01:03See, it's the duty and responsibility of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau
01:08to come out with the preliminary report, which they have within the 30-day stipulated period.
01:14The report is factual mostly, but in my opinion, there are certain areas which lends itself to a degree of ambiguity.
01:26Specifically, I would have liked to have seen something that would have been explaining with the time frame
01:34as to what happened exactly at what stage, including the failure of both the engines,
01:41including when this apparent conversation happened between the pilots, and when the Mayday call happened.
01:49That would have made the report a little bit more factual.
01:53It would have made it a little bit more clearer, and it would have lent itself lesser to this degree of ambiguity,
02:00which we are seeing at this point in time.
02:01What, in your expertise, could be the cause of engine-cule cut-off switches to move from run to cut-off within just one second?
02:13Could it be manual defect, electrical defect, or software malfunction?
02:19I would like to take a little bit of time on this, since I've flown the aircraft for 10 years,
02:23and I've got a lot of experience, about 4,500 hours, on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.
02:32The mechanics of the take-off, if you look at it from a layman's point of view,
02:39there is one person who is flying, and another person who is monitoring.
02:44As per this preliminary report which has come out,
02:46it was the first officer who is seated on the right seat who is flying,
02:50and the pilot-in-command who is sitting on the left seat who is monitoring.
02:55So during a normal take-off,
02:57the moment the first officer, in this case who was a pilot flying,
03:03would have pressed the toga switches to start the take-off roll,
03:08he would take his hands off, and put his hands on the control column.
03:14And thereafterward, both his hands would be on the control column,
03:17and the pilot monitoring, in this case,
03:20would normally have his right hand on the thrust levers.
03:23The take-off appeared to be normal,
03:26and somewhere around, I would say about 40, 50-odd feet,
03:30there seemed to be a little bit of a yaw,
03:33based upon the video evidence that I have seen,
03:36which is probably indicative of the time at which the first engine had failed.
03:43Neither of the two pilots would have had their hands on the fuel control switch.
03:50Both their hands would have been elsewhere.
03:53The first officer, if he was a pilot flying,
03:57both his hands would have been on the control column on the right,
04:00and the pilot monitoring, in this case the pilot-in-command,
04:04would have been on the left, with his right hand on the thrust lever,
04:08which is distinct from where the fuel control switches are,
04:11and monitoring the take-off.
04:14I do not think anybody would have had his hands
04:20anywhere remotely close to the fuel control switches.
04:24And in any case, even if a single engine had failed,
04:29our normal standard operating procedure would indicate
04:32that you climb to a safe height of minimum of 400 feet,
04:37stabilize the aircraft, autopilot on,
04:39and only then you carry out memory items,
04:42which might involve securing a failed engine.
04:46You've just explained in detail about how the system works.
04:53But when we talk about human errors,
04:56in the report itself,
04:58there was a clear communication between the pilots
05:00on denying switching off the fuel cut-off switches.
05:06So is it safe to rule out pilot error during the accident?
05:10Because there has been a statement of our minister that has come,
05:14a civil aviation minister,
05:16and he has said that do not jump to conclusion
05:21based on pilots' conversation.
05:23How do you see the statement?
05:25My interpretation of the conversation would be something as follows.
05:29This is my interpretation.
05:31And logic.
05:31Let's imagine that I was the pilot flying
05:34and I suddenly find a loss of thrust of both engines.
05:39Or rather, I was a pilot monitoring
05:40and see that there is a loss of thrust in both engines.
05:44And I will ask,
05:46did you cut off to the other person?
05:48What does that imply?
05:49That I have not done anything myself.
05:51I am asking the other person.
05:53Right?
05:53And he replies, I have not.
05:56So what does this mean to you?
05:58Logically, it would see that
05:59neither of the two had anything to do with the fuel
06:01cut-off switches.
06:03So I would imagine that this event has happened
06:05without any pilot intervention
06:07on the fuel control switches.
06:09That's my interpretation.
06:11On the report,
06:12the Airline Pilot Association has also made a statement.
06:16They questioned the report.
06:19They said,
06:19the tone and the direction of investigation
06:21suggests a bias towards pilot error.
06:24We categorically reject this presumption
06:27and insist on a fair fact-based inquiry.
06:30See, that is the ALPA's responsibility.
06:33And naturally, they will stand up for the pilots.
06:36And I am also a pilot.
06:37I also firmly believe that it would take
06:40a very deliberate act
06:42in the process of take-off
06:44while you are involved in something else
06:46to even think of putting any control switches off,
06:50which I don't think has happened in this case.
06:52An event has happened.
06:53What is that event?
06:54That event has happened
06:55that both the engines have failed
06:57within a second of each other.
06:58And now,
06:59if you look at it from a pilot's viewpoint,
07:02if I have to switch off the fuel control switch,
07:05I have to first look for it
07:06because my attention is elsewhere.
07:08I have to identify it.
07:10I have to pick it up.
07:11It's a spring-loaded switch.
07:12Pick it up.
07:13Take it out from where it is engaged.
07:15And move it deliberately to the cut-off position.
07:18And then release it into its cut-off position.
07:21This takes time.
07:23Right?
07:23And then I have to do it with two switches.
07:26I don't think there is any commercial pilot in the world
07:28who can put off both the switches in one second.
07:31So now, just to elaborate a little bit
07:33upon this fuel control switch.
07:36When the fuel control switch is put to cut-off,
07:38or rather when it is put to run,
07:40as it was during this entire period from the start-up
07:43till that particular point in time
07:46in which apparently there is a loss of thrust
07:52and a cut-off of the fuel supply.
07:54There are a few things that happen.
07:56Once the fuel switches are moved to the run position,
07:59which happens at the start-up of the first engine,
08:03and then the start-up of the second engine,
08:05in which both the fuel switches are to run.
08:08Incidentally, the report also says that in the crashed site,
08:13both the fuel switches were found to be in the run position.
08:16Right?
08:17So now, once contact is made,
08:20a sequence of actions happens.
08:21There are certain micro switches
08:22which are embedded inside where the fuel control switches are.
08:26They send signals to different places.
08:28One is to the FADEC.
08:30The other is the software control,
08:31which controls the engines.
08:33And next is the fuel control switch,
08:35which switches on or switches off
08:37the fuel supply from the aircraft tanks into the engine.
08:42So where in these three positions
08:45or four positions a failure has occurred?
08:49Because in my opinion,
08:50I'm just a pilot in this,
08:52it is near impossible for it to have happened manually
08:56within one second of each other.
08:58You're taking your eyes off,
08:59you're not thinking about the take-off,
09:00and then you are manually putting it.
09:02It can't happen in one second,
09:04unless you're a fighter pilot,
09:06which I safe to presume that both of them were not.
09:10I do not think that anybody could have done that.
09:16Possibly the cause will have to be investigated further,
09:21for which the Aircraft Accident Investigation Board
09:23has the requisite support of all the experts available.
09:27The NTSB is there, Boeing is there,
09:29GE is there,
09:30whoever they want, whatever they want,
09:32all expertise is available to them.
09:34I'm sure they'll come out with the result.
09:36Lastly, now that the preliminary report is out,
09:40and after narrowing down the investigation,
09:44what is in your point of view
09:46the investigators must be focusing
09:48and viewing the further course of investigation
09:51as per the preliminary report?
09:54Okay.
09:55First is that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau
09:59is a set of professionals.
10:01They know exactly what is to be done.
10:02They know the direction in which it is to be done.
10:05All that I find in the preliminary report
10:07is that that report itself
10:09lends itself to a degree of ambiguity,
10:12which is the result,
10:13and as a result of which
10:14you've got so many questions being asked.
10:16I'm sure that they are proceeding
10:18in the correct direction.
10:19I'm sure that they have the expertise available,
10:22and where they do not have the expertise themselves,
10:24they will seek expertise
10:25from the other domain experts.
10:27I'm sure that they can actually find some of whom
10:32so far%,
10:32and what I teach them to be done.

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