Patna aircrash probe report by Oct. 31

By T.S.Shankar

CHENNAI, AUG. 25. The probe findings by the Air Marshal P. Rajkumar court of enquiry into the Alliance Air Boeing-737 crash near Patna airport on July 17, would be submitted by October 31.

Sources in the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), told The Hindu here today that the Rajkumar court of enquiry was appointed by the Central Government after the tragedy with the direction to submit the findings by the end of October.

Meanwhile, the probing Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) officials who are assisting the team of court of enquiry officers, have decoded the retrieved Solid State Flight Data Recorder (SSFDR) and the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) of the crashed aircraft which would throw light on the ``critical phase'' of the Alliance Air Boeing-737 crash at a specialised flight safety centre in Mumbai. The SSFDR, the sources explained gave details about the actual altitude of the aircraft, its air speed, vertical and longitudinal acceleration, engine pressure ratio of the two engines, roll and pitch altitude.

The sources said out of the 100 hour built-in capacity of the recorded details in the SSFDR, the probing team is analysing the crucial flying pattern of this ill-fated flight (CD-7412) from Calcutta to Delhi operated via Patna and Lucknow.

While the decoded details of the CVR and SSFDR are in the process of being corroborated along with the available material evidence gathered from the crash site by the probing DGCA officials, the preliminary probe has revealed more ``disturbing data''.

Officials of the regulatory body are also examining whether there were any eleventh hour ``swapping of the pilot and co-pilot'' (from the left-side seat to right and vice-versa) during the course of flight, especially during the final phase of landing.

While studying the sequence of events that resulted in the crash, the officials are also focussing their probe on how the flap position of the aircraft wings in this case was on ``near landing flaps'' direction besides examining why the ``pilot'' had ``shut down'' one of the engines while the aircraft was doing its ``orbit''.

Meanwhile, the reported complaints by `line-pilots' to Patna airport on the ``false indication'' given by the Instrument Landing Systems Antenna (ILS), a vital navigational aid, the sources explained that the DGCA has asked the Patna airport authorities to closely monitor the readings of the ILS facility and maintain on a regular basis the readings of the navigational aid to cross-check with the complaints lodged by the operating pilots. Maintenance of daily ILS readings has been made mandatory at Patna airport in particular as this was one of the disturbing factors before the probing team.

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