( Report can be accessed here -https://aaib.gov.in/What's%20New%20Assets/Preliminary%20Report%20VT-ANB.pdf )
The preliminary report on the AIC-171 crash has finally come out. This report was mandated to come out within the 30 days as per the ICAO guidelines. A crash investigation report must answer not only what happened, but why it happened- and how it can be prevented again. On all three accounts, the AIC-171 preliminary report falls short.
Short-Comings that I have observed in the report are as follows :
1. Inadequate CVR (cockpit voice recorder) Transcript- It just mentions "one of the pilots is heard asking the other why did he cutoff. The other pilot responded that he did not do so". This prevents context assessment—no insight into procedural dialogue or cognitive state of the pilots (there's no mention of the tone and tenor of the pilots).
2. Deployment of RAT (Ram Air Turbine) as soon as it starts ascending- even after attaining critical V1 speed (the speed after which aircraft is mandated to start ascending), suggests major plausible critical electrical failure, engine flame out issues, etc.The report provides no such clarification.
3. The worst part is the 1 line mentioning of FUEL-SWITCH transitioning- from RUN to CUT-OFF position. How the hell this transition happened ??? - Manually ?? / Electronically ?? / Accidentally ?? - There's absolutely NO answer to this in the report. The overall indicative tone of the report suggests towards PILOT error/ suicide theory. This is totally ridiculous. If the PILOT was on a suicide mission- he would have NOT tried to re-ignite engine within 10 seconds, also till the very last moment, he tried to inflict minimum damage (the aircraft is seen steady till it crashes, there's NO left-right swing of the aircraft). He also seems to be in total composed state of mind as he followed the SOP and gave even the "MAYDAY" call at the last.
4. It also mentions the FAA's (Federal Aviation Administration) 2018 advisory - regarding the potential disengagement of the fuel control switch locking feature- But the report again fails to objectively point out whether that metal grating lock feature was embedded in AIC-171 or NOT.
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