he Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on Saturday released its probe report into the plane crash at Kozhikode airport in August last year that killed at least 20 people and injured several others, pointed out that the pilot’s non-adherence to the standard operating procedure is the probable cause of the Air India Express plane crash but the role of the systemic failures as a contributory factor cannot be overlooked.
According to the report, the investigation team is of the opinion that the role of systemic failures as a contributory factor cannot be overlooked in this accident. “A large number of similar accidents/ incidents that have continued to take place, more so in AIXL, reinforce existing systemic failures within the aviation sector.
“These usually occur due to prevailing safety culture that give rise to errors, mistakes and violation of routine tasks performed by people operating within the system. Hence, the contributory factors enumerated below include both the immediate causes and the deeper or systemic causes,” it added.
The report, released a little over a year after the deadly crash of the Air India Express plane, said the “probable cause of the accident was the non adherence to SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) by the PF (Pilot Flying)”.
The PF continued an unstabilised approach and landed beyond the touchdown zone, “half way down the runway, in spite of ‘Go Around’ call by PM which warranted a mandatory ‘Go Around’ and the failure of the PM to take over controls and execute a ‘Go Around’,” it noted.
The crash of Air India Express’s B737-800 aircraft happened on August 7 at the Kozhikode airport in Kerala. The plane coming from Dubai had overshot the runway at Kozhikode airport and later broke into pieces. There were 190 people onboard the ill-fated aircraft and at least 20 people, including the two pilots, were killed and several others were injured.
Union Civil Aviation Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said in response to a question during a press conference on Thursday that the report has been submitted to the Ministry. We will release it in the next couple of days into public domain.