Dealing with an air crash

Institutional reform is the order of the day, instead of worrying about how information leaked

- A K BHATTACHARYA

Even as the country reels from the loss of 260 lives in the tragic crash of Air India's flight from Ahmedabad to London on June 12, there is a growing sense of unease over the way the investigation into the accident has been conducted.

A quick assessment of recent developments would suggest that such unease and concern have been caused by the authorities' failure to anticipate the huge consequences and ramifications of this accident and take necessary steps in advance to ensure a competent handling of its investigation and management of the external environment.

Make no mistake about the enormity of the accident that took place within half a minute of Air India 171 taking off from Ahmedabad and crashing into a hostel that housed medical students.

This enormity arose not just because of the number of casualties.

There were many other factors that perhaps were ignored by the authorities.

Firstly, this was the world's first major air crash involving a Boeing Dreamliner.

Naturally, global attention was focused on the investigation into this accident and its findings.

Interest in this investigation was high also because this accident involving a Boeing aircraft came after a few other accidents and malfunctioning reports involving Boeing planes, although of different types.

Boeing was interested in the investigation report, perhaps more than anyone else, as passengers' perception and airlines' choice of its aircraft would have been influenced by the kind of responsibilities that the findings would have fixed on it.

Secondly, this was the first time the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), a department under the Union ministry of civil aviation, conducted the investigation of a major air crash within India's shores.

Earlier, the cockpit voice record and the flight data record would be sent abroad for retrieval and for eventually arriving at a conclusion.