Amid the ongoing Monsoon Session in Parliament, Civil Aviation Minister Naidu, while answering a question on the probe into the AI-171 crash, said that the decoding of the black box happened in India for the first time on Monday.
While addressing the Rajya Sabha, Union Minister Naidu stated that “the first set of the probe is done, and a preliminary report is out. Earlier, whenever the black box had slight damage, the black box used to be sent to the manufacturer for decoding. For the first time, the decoding of the black box has happened in India,” as cited by news agency ANI.
Lauding the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) investigating the Ahmedabad plane crash, Naidu said that the agency is “unbiased”.
“I want to say to the country that AAIB has a thorough rule-based process, and they are totally unbiased,” the Union Minister said.
The Civil Aviation Minister also added, “I have seen multiple articles not only by the Indian media but also by the Western media trying to promote their own viewpoint. The way we are seeing the investigation is through facts. We want to stand by the truth. And that will only be revealed when the investigation is complete.”
With questions put up by the Civil Aviation Ministry on the black box decoding, answering a follow-up question on the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) working on 50 per cent of sanctioned strength, he said, “The number of aircraft and passengers almost doubled in the last 10 years. The Ministry also recommended more posts in the DGCA. These vacant posts have been created over the last 2–3 years. Last year, we recruited 103 posts, which is the highest in the history of DGCA,” as per ANI.
Earlier on Sunday, the Civil Aviation Minister highlighted that no comments should be made until the final investigation report is released, emphasising the need to respect the formal investigation process.
He addressed the media, saying, “The data is here. The preliminary report has also been seen, but making any comments until the final report has come — I don`t think it is a good exercise on behalf of anyone. That`s why we are also very cautious,” as cited by ANI.
The remarks from the Civil Aviation Minister come amid reports, particularly from Western media outlets, suggesting that pilot error was a factor in the incident. Naidu emphasised the need for responsible reporting and respect for the formal process being led by India`s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).
“You`ve seen that AAIB has made an appeal also to all the media houses, especially the Western media houses, who might have certain vested interests in the kind of articles or the reports that they are trying to publish,” the Minister asserted, while praising the AAIB`s efforts.
(With ANI Inputs)