Air India crash probe enters final stages after cockpit recorder, psychology reviews

By Arpan Chaturvedi and Abhijith Ganapavaram

NEW DELHI, July 15 (Reuters) – India’s aircraft accident investigating body has prepared a cockpit voice recorder transcript, conducted a psychological autopsy and moved into the final stages of its probe into last year’s deadly Air India crash, a court filing showed.

The filing did not identify whose psychological autopsy was conducted or disclose any findings on the crash of the Boeing 787 that killed 260 people shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad, India.

An analysis of data retrieved in late May from an engine monitoring unit was still awaited and an assessment of certain organisational factors remained in progress, India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) added, without providing more details.

The AAIB said investigators had interviewed Air India 787 pilots, crew members who had previously flown with the pilots of the crashed aircraft, technical personnel involved in preparing the jet, air traffic controllers, weather officials and human-factors specialists.

The families of the flight crew were also approached at their residences during the early stages of the investigation, the AAIB said in the filing dated Tuesday.

One of the AAIB’s home visits last year had upset Pushkar Raj Sabharwal, the father of the captain, who said officials implied his son cut the fuel to the plane’s engines after takeoff. He filed a lawsuit that led to the disclosures made by the AAIB in the court filing.

The AAIB said media speculation and narratives attributing blame to the pilots had caused some witnesses to become “restrictive and non-responsive”.

It said the probe was now in the analysis phase, with findings and conclusions being drawn across operational, technical, human-factors and organisational areas.

The AAIB said it expected the remaining investigation activities to be completed within about six weeks, subject to pending “external dependencies”. 

A draft final report is expected around October, after which it will be circulated to relevant participating countries for comments before being finalised and published, the filing said.

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is one of the parties due to receive the draft report.

According to U.S. officials’ early assessment reported by Reuters last year, the cockpit recording of dialogue between the two pilots supported the view that the ​captain cut the flow of fuel to its ⁠engines.

The AAIB said at the time it was “too early to reach any definite conclusions.”

(Reporting by Abhijith Ganapavaram and Arpan Chaturvedi; Editing by Jamie Freed)