No pilot is stupid to play around with switches during takeoff: Aviation expert Mark Martin on AAIB report

New Delhi: No pilot is stupid, or inept, to want to play around with switches in the middle section of cockpit when all attention is focused on forward flight cockpit instruments located in front of the pilots, during takeoff and landing, top aviation expert Mark Martin told IANS on Saturday.

Reacting to the preliminary findings by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) into the fatal crash of Air India flight AI 171 — a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner that went down shortly after take-off from Ahmedabad on June 12, Martin, who is CEO of Martin Consulting, an aviation safety firm in Asia, said that for a pilot, two most critical phases of flight are the take off and landing.

“During this, all attention is on flight instruments and hand flying the aircraft to about (usually) 2000 feet then engaging the autopilot. Attention is on continuing flight and flight controls, never on the throttle quadrant, since thrust is set to MAX TAKE OFF THRUST,” he told IANS.

According to the AAIB preliminary report, both fuel control switches supplying fuel to the engines of Air India flight 171 were turned off in quick succession, shutting down both the engines.

One of the pilots can be heard on the cockpit voice recorder, asking the other why he cut off the fuel, to which the other pilot responded by saying that “he did not”, the report mentioned.

Martin said that the report “will have a global ramification on all 787 operators”.

“It is highly unlikely that any pilot, especially during takeoff would want to meddle or fiddle around with switches behind the thrust levels. At best, you would focus on raising the landing gear which is located in the front panel of the cockpit, or raise the flaps,” the expert explained, adding that it is imperative that we wait for the entire, comprehensive investigation report. to come out.

The report said that both pilots had an adequate rest period before the flight. According to the 15-page report, the flight lasted around 30 seconds between lift-off and crash. The report noted that at this stage, there are no recommended actions to operators of Boeing 787-8 aircraft and GE GEnx-1B engines.

The air crash killed 260 people — 241 of the 242 people on board the ill-fated aircraft and 19 on the ground.

–IANS