"These Are Not 2 People On Tinder Date": Expert Defends Dreamliner Pilots

Serious pilots in India who are closely watching the unfolding events linked to the investigation into the crash of Air India's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner are upset about the whole situation due to a perceived slant towards blaming the pilots, a top aviation expert and a pilot himself told NDTV on Thursday.

Captain Sam Thomas, who heads the Airline Pilots' Association of India (ALPA India), said two things are bothering serious experts who have been tracking the investigation - speculation, and alleged absence of any qualified expert in the report by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).

"As far as speculation is concerned, we are okay with the media speculating. We believe speculation is a good part of investigative journalism. However, we object to pilots or so-called pilots or so-called experts who came on board and speculate," Mr Thomas told NDTV.

"On day one, they said it's a bird hit. On day two, they said it's an overloaded airplane. On day three, they said something else. What we are objecting to is why did you call them on day four? You called them on day five, six, till such time that they insinuated this is something the captain has done with a motive to end his own life, which is farthest from the truth," Mr Thomas said.

He said they don't believe the report "is completely Indian controlled", that it seemed like "a dictated sort of letter".

"And you released that in the middle of the night. You cannot even get the full form of FADEC correctly. And you cannot get the issue date of [pilot] Sumit's licence correct. How do I expect you to go through the entire report? I don't want to see past those three lines. And you have released one line selectively at the order of somebody. Now, we don't know who said to whom. And there is a tonality to a conversation. These are not two people on a Tinder date. So please be responsible," Mr Thomas said.

He said they would like to go through the entire report or the digital flight data recorder (DFDR) to throw better light, rather than using people who are non-technical and from a non-civilian background.

On a report by the Wall Street Journal that appeared to question the pilot's actions, Mr Thomas said it is likely the American newspaper has been "fed that information".

"... And it's our fault. It's not their fault. If I were to be heading this committee, I would have sat there and given a piece of paper to each of those NTSB and Boeing investigators and said, 'sign this, whatever goes out of this room goes out through me and not through anybody else. If you cannot maintain that confidentiality, get out of here'," Mr Thomas said.

"[But] they have set the narrative in such a calculated manner that no matter what proof I give you, they will still nail the pilot. They have already done that. Half the world thinks that, and half the world thinks Indian pilots are morons. This has happened because of the shoddy investigation and the shoddy way things have proceeded in India."

He referred to the Boeing 737 MAX controversy over the MCAS-linked crashes.

"... With the 737 Max crash, what about the first crash? If you had woken up at that time and had a conscience, you would have said, hey, I need something to set my airplane. All right. You kept quiet. Unfortunately, the Ethiopian accident happened.

"Luckily, the Ethiopians were much more intelligent than all of us. They did their in-house investigation and that's when it came out that you could not avoid the existence of MCAS, which is a renegade system that crashes your airplane. So there are many, many vested interests, not just one. Let's not just look at the OEM or some investigating body. Everybody who is not telling the truth has something to gain. And this is the narrative that is being told," the veteran pilot told NDTV.

The Air India Boeing 787 crashed seconds after take-off from Ahmedabad airport, killing 260 people.