Air India crash probe far from over, says CEO after preliminary report

Reuters
07-14
UPDATE 2-Air India crash probe far from over, says CEO after preliminary report

Recasts, adds CEO comment in paragraph 3-4, details on report and Air India context paragraph 5 onwards

By Aditya Kalra

NEW DELHI, July 14 (Reuters) - The probe into last month's crash of an Air India plane in Ahmedabad is far from over and it is unwise to jump to any premature conclusions, airline CEO Campbell Wilson said in an internal memo on Monday after the release of a preliminary report by investigators.

The memo, reviewed by Reuters, comes after the report depicted confusion in the cockpit shortly before the crash of the Boeing BA.N Dreamliner that killed 260 people. It said the plane's engine fuel cutoff switches flipped almost simultaneously and starved the engines of fuel.

"The release of the preliminary report marked the point at which we, along with the world, began receiving additional details about what took place. Unsurprisingly, it provided both greater clarity and opened additional questions." the memo said.

Wilson added: "The preliminary report identified no cause nor made any recommendations, so I urge everyone to avoid drawing premature conclusions as the investigation is far from over."

The Boeing 787 Dreamliner bound for London from the Indian city of Ahmedabad began to lose thrust and sink shortly after takeoff, according to the report released by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).

The memo said the preliminary report found no mechanical or maintenance faults and that all required maintenance had been carried out.

The preliminary report, released on Saturday, suggested no immediate action for Boeing or GE GE.N, whose engines were fitted on to the aircraft.

The AAIB, an office under India's civil aviation ministry, is leading the probe into the crash, which killed all but one of the 242 people on board and 19 others on the ground.

Air India has come under heightened scrutiny on multiple fronts following the crash.

On July 4, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency said it would investigate budget unit Air India Express, after a Reuters report revealed the airline failed to promptly replace engine parts on an Airbus A320 as mandated, and falsified records to indicate compliance.

ALPA India, which represents Indian pilots at the Montreal-based International Federation of Air Line Pilots’ Associations, rejected the presumption of pilot error in the Ahmedabad crash and called for a "fair, fact-based inquiry."

"The pilots body must now be made part of the probe, at least as observers," ALPA India President Sam Thomas told Reuters on Sunday.

(Reporting by Aditya Kalra in New Delhi, writing by Chandini Monnappa and Hritam Mukherjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Nivedita Bhattacharjee and Raju Gopalakrishnan)

((Hritam.Mukherjee@thomsonreuters.com; X: @MukherjeeHritam;))

免責聲明:投資有風險,本文並非投資建議,以上內容不應被視為任何金融產品的購買或出售要約、建議或邀請,作者或其他用戶的任何相關討論、評論或帖子也不應被視為此類內容。本文僅供一般參考,不考慮您的個人投資目標、財務狀況或需求。TTM對信息的準確性和完整性不承擔任何責任或保證,投資者應自行研究並在投資前尋求專業建議。

熱議股票

  1. 1
     
     
     
     
  2. 2
     
     
     
     
  3. 3
     
     
     
     
  4. 4
     
     
     
     
  5. 5
     
     
     
     
  6. 6
     
     
     
     
  7. 7
     
     
     
     
  8. 8
     
     
     
     
  9. 9
     
     
     
     
  10. 10