Air India Express crash | Why safety experts are not confident about government's AAIB probing the Kozhikode accident

The Bureau was set up in 2012, in accordance with Section 7 of the Aircraft Act 1934 (India) that empowers the government to make rules for investigation of accidents. It operates under the supervision of the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The recommendation to set up an investigating agency came from the Court of Inquiry that was formed to look into the 2010 Mangalore crash, which has been compared to the tragedy in Kozhikode on many counts of similarly.

The Court of Inquiry had suggested that the new agency should be in the lines of the National Transport Safety Board, the American body that looks into accidents in the US.

"This independent body will help in focusing on all the flight safety-related issues so as to make timely recommendations to DGCA and Ministry of Civil Aviation for speedy implementation. The recommended pro-active measures will help in minimising accidents and incidents. Such an independent organisation is much needed in view of the rapid growth of aviation in the country including general aviation," the court of inquiry noted.

An audit by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, the UN agency that sets a global standard for aviation, also recommended setting up an independent agency to investigate accidents.

Sounds noble. Is the Kozhikode crash AAIB's first investigation?

It's not the first. The Bureau has investigated other incidents, including the 2018 crash of Beechcraft King Air aircraft in Mumbai's Ghatkopar.

At the same time, the Kozhikode crash will be the Bureau's biggest assignment till now, and all eyes are on it.

How did it fare in the Ghatkopar investigation?

The Bureau has received plenty of flak for its report on the 2018 incident that left five dead.

"The ignorance of even the basic concepts of aviation, exhibited by the AAIB in its Dec 2019 report on the Ghatkopar crash... proves the ghastly non-professionalism of the AAIB," says S Mangala, DGM (Aviation Safety), WR, Airports Authority of India.

She cites that the Bureau failed to record in its report a 'glaring mistake' made by Mumbai Air Traffic Controller, which gave a faulty instruction to the aircraft, contributing to the fatal accident.

Aviation expert Amit Singh had also faulted the AAIB report, which had blamed the crash on pilot error. Singh had instead demanded that the government should set up a Court of Inquiry.

Read this: Air India Express crash| Do investigators take the easy way out by blaming pilots? 

That doesn't instil confidence. Is the Ghatkopar investigation the main grouse against AAIB?

Aviation experts like Mangala and Singh point out the 'inherent conflict of interest' in AAIB, and question if it is really independent.

Adds Mohan Ranganathan, an industry veteran who was part of the safety committee formed post the 2010 Mangalore crash, "The recommendation was to have an independent AAIB. But that is just on paper."

Can you please explain?

Mangala does, in an email written to the Ministry of Civil Aviation on August 10:

"There is a terrible conflict of interest and non-transparency in the idea of an investigation by the AAIB, an organisation that is fully controlled by an interested party, the Ministry of Civil Aviation, the umbrella organisation that controls AAI and DGCA also."

Moneycontrol has seen a copy of the mail.

The organisational structure that AAIB has, adds Mangala, may rob it of any independence, it may also hesitate to haul up AAI and DGCA. As it is, the DGCA has already proclaimed that a pilot error may have led to the Kozhikode crash, even as the AAIB had just begun with its investigations.

Both the government bodies - AAI and DGCA - have been criticised by Ranganathan for not implementing all the recommendations suggested by the safety committee post the 2010 crash. One of the recommendations was to instal EMAS, which helps in bringing to halt an aircraft that has overrun the runway. 

How is a Court of Inquiry different?

While it may be more 'independent' than the AAIB, say, safety experts, the biggest difference will be in the way the Court of Inquiry conducts its investigations.

Government regulations state that the AAIB 'investigation shall be held in private,' and that there will be 'non-disclosure of records.'

On the other hand, a Court of Inquiry conducts an open court proceeding, that allows anyone to present submissions. "An open Court of Inquiry is constituted with free access to it for everyone, with every hearing live-streamed/recorded, and the video and audio recordings of those hearings be made available to the general public for free," says Mangala.

In the end, an investigation by a Court of Inquiry may get to the bottom of the crash, going beyond the pilot error theory and look at other factors that could have contributed and led to the accident.

Factors like?

For instance, though the Kozhikode airport had a Runway End Safety Area, which extends beyond a runway, there was a problem. Mangala points out that the RESA at Kozhikode was 'hard and not soft,' as recommended by ICAO. If soft, then the RESA has a better chance to slow down a speeding aircraft.

Ok. Has the government taken cognisance of the demand for a Court of Inquiry?

Not yet.

But it should be noted that there are other investigations running parallel to the one done by the AAIB.

While Air India and Boeing (the aircraft was a Boeing one) will conduct theirs, the Kerala Police has also constituted a Special Investigation Team to probe the crash.