An association of Indian pilots has defended the crew of the Air India Flight 171 which crashed in June, killing 260 people.The Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) said the crew “acted in line with their training and responsibilities under challenging conditions and the pilots shouldn’t be vilified based on conjecture”.”To casually suggest pilot suicide without verified evidence is a gross violation of ethical reporting and a disservice to the dignity of the profession,” it added.A preliminary report did not blame the pilots. It said seconds after take-off, both of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner’s fuel-control switches moved to the “cut-off” position, starving the engines of fuel.The report released on Saturday gave details of the cockpit voice recording with one pilot asking the other why he “did the cut-off”, to which the other replies that he didn’t. The recording doesn’t clarify who said what. Data shows the switches were then moved to “run” position, but the plane crashed within seconds. Aviation experts and pilots say the fuel switches are designed to prevent accidental activation and they must be pulled up to unlock before flipping. Protective guard brackets further shield them from accidental bumps.The preliminary report does not throw any light on how the switches were moved to cut-off, but since its release, sections of media and social media has been awash with unsavoury speculation about the role of pilots.”We are deeply disturbed by speculative narratives emerging in sections of the media and public discourse – particularly the reckless and unfounded insinuation of pilot suicide,” the Indian Commercial Pilots’ Association (ICPA) said in a statement released late on Saturday night.”Let us be unequivocally clear: there is absolutely no basis for such a claim at this stage, and invoking such a serious allega …
