With one more body recovered from the wreckage of Air India’s ill-fated plane on Saturday, the death toll has crossed 270. Union Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu on Saturday said, extended surveillance will now be made on all Boeing-787 planes. He said, the decoding of the black box recovered from the wreckage will give a deep insight into what could have actually happened when the plane crash took place.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau team has been given three months’ time to complete its inquiry. Meanwhile the medical college hostel building has been cleared to facilitate the probe team to complete its work.
The Director General of Civil Aviation has decided to make complete checkup of all Boeing aircraft compulsory before take-off. Cabin air pressure, wings, cockpit instruments and other systems will be checked before giving clearance.
Too many people on social media have now become aviation experts. Some say, the aircraft system could have been hacked, some others say, the system was suddenly ‘locked’ after takeoff, some speculate that the aviation fuel could have been adulterated.
I think there is no need to waste time on speculations now. Aviation continues to be the world’s safest mode of transport. There is a foolproof procedure for probing accidents. Independent experts do their work with the help of international organisations.
Some genuine aviation experts say that take-off is the riskiest part of any flight. Correct flaps, thrust and rotation speed are vital. There is less scope for errors in such fields. If the weather is hot, there is less chance of error. For an aircraft like Boeing-787 the chances of error are practically nil. The plane engines are fully powered and if the system fails or if there is any malfunctioning, the pilot can take over manual control.
The aircraft that crashed was flying at a very low altitude of 625 feet. It speed was at 174 knots and landing gear was down. This was indicative of some big error in take-off settings. Outside the temperature was 43 degree Celsius and the aircraft’s fuel tank was full. This could have made the situation difficult. A minor error in such a situation can prove fatal. The black box in such aircraft is quite advanced. Let us hope the exact reason of the crash will be revealed soon.