“Not a lot changed in one year,” say experts on AI171 crash aftermath

Friday will mark a year since the deadliest accident in the Indian aviation industry which claimed 260 lives after the Boeing 787 Dreamliner flight AI171 crashed into BJ Medical Collegersquos hostel in Ahmedabad GujaratWhile we canrsquot say with certainty what caused the crash till the final report is published by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau one thing that has come as a consequence is the push to make an already safe mode of transport safer midday spoke with experts in the industry for their take on the issueThe biggest changeThough technical aspects of a flight are very important such as the equipmentrsquos maintenance one thing that all experts midday spoke with said was that a very important factor was the Flight Duty Time Limitation FDTL norms ldquoFor the longest time the norms followed in the country were nonscientific We had filed cases in the Delhi High Court demanding change which had been seen as the 2010 committee headed by then DGCA director general Nasim Zaidi was finally taken into consideration when norms were being changed in 2023rdquo Captain CS Randhawa president of the Federation of Indian Pilots FIP told middaylsquoSafety not priorityrsquoFederation of Indian Pilots FIP president Captain CS Randhawa PIC COURTESYFIPAddressing the issue of how the norms are not being implemented properly Captain Randhawa said ldquoWith the number of exemptions being given to airlines the safety of those flying is being put in jeopardy If any other accidents happen due to this who will take responsibility Safety is not being prioritisedTechnical changesRegarding the changes expected after the crash report is published Captain Randhawa said ldquoThere might be changes in the technical aspect but any changes in FDTL are not expected While implementation and strict adherence is necessary we donrsquot know when or what will prompt thatrdquoAirline Speakmidday contacted Air India to find out what changes have been made in their operations to make flights safer but didnrsquot get a response till the time of going to pressFinal report keyAn Activeduty pilotldquoNo one can actually make any changes till the final report on the crash is out as we need to know for sure what happened to say that something needs to be changed Till the report is out we have all been keeping our eyes and ears open to be cautious The industry runs on the side of caution When we know the capacity of something the usage limit of that is kept lower to prevent issues Once the reason is out we can go ahead and make necessary changesrdquoAnother pilotldquoBecause what happened has not yet been revealed by investigating authorities not many changes have occurred but we have seen more caution The flight crew pilots ground staff and maintenance crew are all more alert to any possible issue with the aircraft or pilot fatigue for that matter We have a system of submitting fatigue reports to our airlines but what is debatable is whether these are being audited by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation DGCA as they had claimed they wouldrdquo