‘Extremely unlikely’, Veteran Pilot Sharath Panicker dismisses pilot’s role in Air India Plane crash

ANI

New Delhi, July 13, 2025 (ANI): Veteran pilot and Wing Commander Sharath Panicker has dismissed the possibility of pilot error in the recent Air India plane crash, following the release of the initial report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AIBB).

Transcript

00:00So my question or what lends itself to ambiguity is, it is extremely unlikely that any of the pilots would have done this.

00:10Extremely 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

00:19as 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.

00:32My first thought was disbelief.

00:35What 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.

00:51And it is a 15-page report.

00:53It is fairly elaborate.

00:55But it is still a preliminary report.

00:56What, in my mind, the few points that I have is that, one, it is a bit ambiguous.

01:07The language which is used seems to be a little ambiguous as to what actually happened during the final stages of the aircraft

01:17after 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.

01:29Now, I am a Dreamliner pilot.

01:33I have flown the Dreamliner for 10 years.

01:35I have more than 4,700 odd hours in command on the Dreamliner.

01:39So I am familiar with the machine.

01:42I am familiar with the environment.

01:45The fuel control switch is the area of concern at this point in time as per the report.

01:54What the report says is that the fuel control switches have transitioned from run to cutoff.

02:03Now, whether this means that the physical movement of these fuel control switches has taken place or not is not clear at all.

02:13The 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

02:29and they should have been able to tell us very clearly as to what was the actual position of the switches in the cockpit

02:35at 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.

02:50The only time at which the fuel control switches come into play is if, for example,

02:57there 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,

03:10which 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

03:23once the aircraft is stabilized and the autopilot is on.

03:28So, these memory items would involve in what we call securing the engine,

03:34which in this case, let's take the case of engine failure,

03:39would involve putting the autothrottle arm switch off,

03:44identifying the correct thrust lever, confirming it from the other pilot,

03:50then bringing the thrust lever from its takeoff position to idle position,

03:55and then subsequently putting your hand on the fuel control switch,

04:01identifying it, confirming it with the other pilot,

04:05before putting it from run to cutoff.

04:07It's a very deliberate action. It's a very slow action.

04:11And 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,

04:21certainly not immediately after takeoff.

04:25So, my question, or what lends itself to ambiguity is,

04:31it is extremely unlikely that any of the pilots would have done this.

04:35Extremely unlikely.

04:37And that too, you're not talking about one switch, you're talking about both switches.

04:40And as per the report, both these switches have transitioned

04:44from run to cutoff within a period of one second.

04:48Now, even if you look at it from a pilot's perspective,

04:52if I have to put off a fuel control switch,

04:56I'm just saying normally,

04:58even if I do it at maximum speed,

05:01from a takeoff position, I will have to first look down,

05:05find out where that switch is,

05:07put my hand on that switch,

05:09lift it up because it's a spring-loaded switch,

05:12pick it up, move it to cutoff,

05:14and thereafterward release it.

05:18Thereafterward, I will have to follow the same procedure

05:20on the other fuel control switch,

05:24in which I have to identify it,

05:27pick it up, release the spring-loaded catch,

05:30move it to the cutoff position,

05:31and then release it again.

05:33This entire process certainly cannot be done within a second.

05:36So, my thinking is,

05:39perhaps you have to look at other aspects

05:40as to why these fuel control switches have transitioned

05:45into a cutoff position.

05:49Now, whenever the fuel control switch is put to run,

05:52which it is done when we first start the engine on the pushback,

05:56this fuel control switch is not touched at all

05:59until you switch off at the end of the flight.

06:01But whenever it is put from idle to run,

06:07or sorry, from cutoff to run,

06:09there 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,

06:19to the FADEC,

06:21to the systems which open up the fuel control valves

06:25of the engine, of this power fuel control valve,

06:29that means the valve which controls the fuel from your fuel tank

06:32to that particular engine.

06:34There are all different micro switches that are there

06:36which make contact when you move the fuel control switch

06:39from cutoff to on.

06:41Maybe these would have to be investigated in greater detail.

06:44I'm sure that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau

06:47has all the necessary expertise.

06:50They have access to all the experts,

06:52the domain experts,

06:53the original equipment manufacturers.

06:55I'm sure they'll be able to find out exactly what went wrong.

06:57As far as I'm concerned,

06:59I think it is extremely, extremely remote

07:02that anyone during a process of takeoff

07:05takes his attention off the takeoff,

07:07looks down,

07:09finds the switch,

07:11puts it off,

07:12and then finds the other switch,

07:13again puts it off,

07:14and all within a period of one second.

07:16In my opinion, extremely unlikely.

07:18Also, the Pilot Association is raising the question on the FEM.

07:25They are also saying that,

07:27it is also being said that,

07:29the report has been leaked without authorization.

07:32What would you like to say?

07:33I have no comment on that

07:36because I am not aware of what is the procedure

07:39by which these reports are leaked,

07:41whether it's deliberate,

07:42whether it's not deliberate.

07:43As I understand,

07:44this report has been put up by the AIIB

07:46within the stipulated period of time of 30 days,

07:49and I think they've done that.

07:50Whether a preliminary report,

07:52somebody else had access,

07:54I would not be able to comment on that.

07:56And on Boeing,

07:58what's your reaction on the overall situation?

08:01What happened?

08:05My initial thinking is that,

08:07since like,

08:08for example,

08:09when this particular accident happened,

08:11I was sitting in Vienna.

08:13I had just taken off from Delhi to Vienna the previous day,

08:17and I was waiting in Vienna

08:18for the Dreamrunner 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

08:25when this particular accident had happened.

08:28My first thought was disbelief.

08:31What could have happened immediately after takeoff

08:34which has resulted in a complete loss of thrust?

08:38Please do remember that time,

08:40nobody knew what had happened.

08:41So there were different speculations going on.

08:43There were different theories going on.

08:45Somebody talked about flaps.

08:46Somebody talked about this.

08:47Somebody talked about that.

08:49Somebody said instead of retracting the gear,

08:50he raised the flaps.

08:52And all sorts of wild speculations were going on.

08:55My thinking is that if the preliminary report

08:59had shown something alarming or something dangerous,

09:04both the Accident Investigation Board Bureau of India,

09:09the DGCA,

09:11again 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

09:21with this particular brand of engine,

09:23which is the GE engine.

09:24As you are aware,

09:25there are different engine manufacturers,

09:27GE, Trent, Rolls-Royce, etc.

09:28The fact that they didn't to us at that point in time,

09:33one month before,

09:34that is when the accident happened,

09:36indicated that maybe it's nothing to do with,

09:39it's nothing that is alarming

09:41or nothing that is dangerous enough

09:44for the regulatory authority to step in

09:47and say that it is dangerous to fly, stop flying.

09:50So, coming back to your question

09:53about what has possibly happened.

09:57Now, Boeing is the original equipment manufacturer

10:01of the Boeing 787.

10:03This aircraft is widely in service

10:05all across the world with many airlines.

10:08I have flown this aircraft for 10 years.

10:10I have found no problem with it.

10:12This aircraft has logged more than,

10:15I would say,

10:15about 4 million flying hours across the world

10:18in its 13, 14-odd years

10:21since the time it's been introduced.

10:23It's a very advanced aircraft.

10:25It's the most advanced aircraft

10:26that Boeing has in its fleet.

10:28And I'm sure that they have the expertise

10:30and they have the knowledge,

10:32they have the capability

10:33of knowing what is wrong with their equipment

10:36or what are the glitches in the equipment.

10:39If you put your mind back onto early days,

10:42there were certain teething problems

10:43that the Dreamliner had,

10:44primarily to deal with its lithium-ion batteries

10:47about overheating.

10:48But that was the initial glitches.

10:50It got sorted out.

10:51And it's been running without any problems

10:53for a fairly long period of time.

10:55So, I do not think that there is anything dramatic

10:59which would have caused

11:01either the regulator here in India

11:03or the regulator in the US

11:05or Boeing or the engine manufacturer

11:10to be alarmed and stop flying.

11:14So, it's up to the authorities

11:16to investigate what are the reasons

11:18why it's happened.

11:19My input to this would be that

11:21the flight data recorder

11:23has the position of all the switches

11:27in the cockpit.

11:28What is the position?

11:30Is it in run?

11:31Is it in cutoff?

11:32All this data is available

11:34from the DFDR.

11:36Enhanced airborne flight data recorder.

11:40So, all that they have to check

11:41to my mind is to say that

11:44at the point in time

11:45at which this fuel control switch

11:49has transitioned

11:50from run to cutoff,

11:53what was the physical position

11:55of what was the physical position?

11:55What was the physical position?

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