Captain Amit Singh of the Royal Aeronautical Society demands for the Kozhikode plane crash

Demand for Kozhikode crash enquiry

Thursday, 20th August 2020

This Tuesday Captain Amit Singh who is an International aviation safety expert and a member of the Royal Aeronautical Society (FRAeS) in London, wrote in a mail to Hardip Singh Puri, the civil aviation minister asking for an enquiry into the Kozhikode Air India Express plane crash that happened on the 8th of August. He has brought forth the allegation that there has been a tampering with the evidences available at the crash site and thus, the need of an open and thorough investigation has arisen.

Singh, the ex-chief of safety at AirAsia, also said that his request is accompanied by videos recorded by local media platforms and channels post the plane accident, and in the videos three unidentified suspicious persons have been spotted in vicinity to the aircraft’s cockpit post the crash. Singh has also attached relevant screen grabs of that video in his write-up to minister, Puri.

In this context a spokesman of Air India Express, “We cannot comment as the accident is under investigation.”

The aircraft is known to have overshot the Karipur International Airport runway while trying to land safely at this table top airport. Besides passengers 2 pilots and 4 cabin crews were aboard.

While the two aircraft pilots were killed in this accident, all the four cabin crews were saved. 18 people in total were killed in this crash.

Singh declared that no personnel other than the extricating bodies had the authority for any sort of activity at the crash site, and furthermore alleged that the 3 unidentified persons were actually present there only to tamper with the evidence. In this context he also said that the video screen grabs clearly show a person rummaging desperately and suspiciously through documents within the cockpit as if he was looking for something specific.

An email has been sent in this regard to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) but no response has come in yet.

‘As seen in the photograph, a person (A) dressed in military fatigues positioned outside the aircraft cockpit is seen pointing out to something inside the cockpit. There is apparently another person (B) inside the cockpit who hands over a what appears to be a document, to person A. Person A is then seen handing over the presumed document, which is apparently stained to a third person(C). [sic]’ read Singh’s letter.

No response has come in yet for the query in this paper from the ministry of civil aviation.

Singh while talking about the 2012 manual of AAIB procedures, stated that under point 4, all details pertaining to the procedure for the securing of on-site evidence has been mentioned.

“It states that the Officer incharge of the aerodromes closest to the site of the accident should assist in coordination with local police authorities and will take immediately all reasonable measures to protect the evidence until the arrival of the officer of AAIB or any other authorized person. It also states that the assistance of civil authorities, particularly that of local police is also necessary to ensure that vital evidence is not lost [sic],” wrote Captain Singh.

Singh also said that the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) lists out few tasks that need to be accomplished hurriedly; these tasks include securing of the occurrence spot, the aircraft, the wreckage, and also other equipment used to ensure their maintenance, including the protection against any further damage and also disappearance of all essential evidence because of theft, improper handling or displacement of wreckage.

“In the absence of a judicial and an open inquiry, I do not see any reason as to how an investigation would be fair and reasonable. Therefore I request you to immediately constitute a Court of Inquiry under the Rule 12 of Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules 2017,” read the conclusion of the letter.

Source: Hindustan Times