A month later, no report on AI crash

Mumbai: Even a month after Air India Express IX 812 crashed at Mangalore airport killing 158 passengers and crew members, several important questions remain unanswered. The civil aviation ministry and the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) are not keen on releasing a preliminary investigation report. It points to a lack in transparency in the system. TOI chalks out a list of five questions which need to be answered:

Why doesn’t India have a practice of releasing a preliminary investigation report after an aircrash?
The Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) can be downloaded in 15 days and the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) can be decoded in a couple of hours. Both of these were retrieved just days after the Mangalore crash. According to sources, the inquiry team sought a deadline extension and it has been granted.

Why doesn’t the investigating team have a single official who is an expert on the particular aircraft?
The aircraft which crashed was from Boeing 737 Next Generation series. Airline accident probe in India are always handled by IAF officials, who are not familiar with civilian aircraft types. Of the four investigators, Capt Ron Nagar is the only expert with experience in civilian aircraft.

Why was Mangalore airport’s only radar, the Air Route Surveillance Radar (RSR), kept off?
If the radar has been on, the controller could have seen the aircraft’s height and if it was high on approach, the radar controller would have warned the pilot for altitude correction.

Why was an outsider (a villager) and not an air traffic controller, the first person to inform the police?
Air traffic controllers are trained for emergency response, but manpower shortage makes it impossible for the controllers to inform 20 other units within the desirable 5-10 minutes of the accident.

How long did the fire tenders take to reach the scene?
22/06/10 Manju V/Times of India

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