A year on, probe on Kozhikode plane crash far from over

Over a year after the crash of a Boeing 737 aircraft operated by Air India Express at Kozhikode airport, which killed 20 people, including two pilots, a probe on the causes of the incident is yet to be completed.

An inquiry team set up by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) a week after the 7 August 2020 crash was supposed to submit the initial findings in five months.

However, the five-member committee headed by Capt. SS Chahar, a former designated examiner on Boeing 737NG, to investigate the causes of the crash, is yet to submit its report.

Other members of the committee are Ved Prakash (operations expert), Mukul Bhardwaj (senior aircraft maintenance engineer for Boeing 737), Y.S. Dahiya (aviation medicine expert) and Jasbir Singh Larhga (deputy director of AAIB).

The delay has been officially attributedto the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

The Air India Express flight (IX 1344) from Dubai carrying 191 people skidded off a wet runway while landing at Kozhikode airport and crashed into a ravine, breaking into two.

The crash happened in incessant rains and saw the aircraft fall over 35 feet down the slope of the table top airport.

V.K. Singh, minister of state (civil aviation), on 11 August this year told Parliament that the final report on the probe is likely to be completed by the end of the month.

According to media reports, none of the next of kin of the deceased have accepted the offered compensation. Families of deceased and injured passengers have instead engaged with law firms to deal with reinsurers.

Civil aviation minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had in July informed Abdussamad Samadani, a member of Parliament from Kerala that a draft report on the air crash is under consultation with the accredited representative of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) in accordance with Rule 14 of Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2017.

“However, the consultation process has been severely hampered due to unprecedented impact of covid-19. The final report is likely to be made public in August 2021,” Scindia said in a letter.

AAIB director general Aurobindo Handa didn’t respond to emailed queries. Handa however messaged that he’s on leave due to urgent personal work.